CitCo to Introduce Electric Vehicles to Taxi Association

Today the Belize City Council put on display a fleet of heavy-duty equipment and two brand new electric vehicles that it will assign to the taxi stand in front of the Battlefield Park. According to Belize City Mayor, Bernard Wagner, the council has been able to increase its vehicle fleet from one pickup truck in 2018 when it first took office to twelve in 2024. Today, the mayor invited the media to show us three pieces of equipment and the electric vehicles that were purchased at a total cost of over nine hundred thousand dollars. Part of the display was a brand new compactor truck – first of two donated by Japan. News Five’s Marion Ali brings you this report on the new acquisition.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

To improve the quality of work it does, the Belize City Council has purchased a fleet of heavy-duty equipment and electric cars. Mayor Bernard Wagner invited the media to have a look at the vehicles.

 

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“We wanted to continue to add to the fleet. And as you can see here, we have backhoes, we have graders, and we want to continue to build along that line.

These equipment are have been purchased by the city. It’s Gili brand. It’s a Chinese made brand. I think each one of them cost about $50,000.”

 

 

 

The compactor truck was the first of two, valued at over half a million Belize dollars, that the government of Japan has gifted to the council, after contracts were signed in 2022. According Kaya Cattouse, the councillor responsible for sanitation, the vehicles will help the municipal government, in improving its efficiency in collecting garbage.

 

Kaya Cattouse, Councillor for Sanitation, Belize City Council

“The impact of this new equipment at the sanitation department cannot be overstated. With enhanced capabilities and efficiency, we will be able to accomplish more of our mission to keep the City clean. These compactors will enable us to streamline our waste collection processes, improve our response times, and enhance the overall cleanliness of our streets and neighborhoods.”

 

These two white EUVs, as they are called, will be assigned, in this first instance, to the Battlefield Park Taxi Association. The mayor explained that the taxi drivers and the council will have lease agreements with their members to run the vehicles as taxis that they can someday own. Wagner said that eventually, all taxi associations in Belize City will be introduced to this eco-friendly means of transportation.

 

Bernard Wagner

“The taxi owners associations all across the city will really benefit from this initiative because our agreement is a lease-to-own eventually. Certainly we look at how we depreciate the vehicle. We want to ensure that we have the financial model, to ensure that we are able to meet the investment that we got for the e-taxis, we want to ensure that we have a maintenance component in it. We also want to ensure that we are able to pay the drivers out of that. And also the city has to get back its little return on investment, obviously. And at the end of the term, we are able to say to the taxi driver, here is this taxi, it’s now yours. The taxis will be run on the type of system that you have in the United States, similar to Uber.”

 

Wagner explained that the reason for the investment in electric taxis is to promote a cleaner and more sustainable environment.

 

Bernard Wagner

“We wanted to do this as an investment, right, to ensuring that we drive The e-mobility we build the ecosystem here in Belize City. We are not driving any of the taxi owners. And it’s starting the ecosystem of e mobility of really transforming the, local public transportation in the city.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.