Bids Welcome to Manage E-buses for North and West

Since the announcement came almost two years ago that the Ministry of Transport would be pushing for an upgrade in the public transportation system, bus operators have been making efforts to access financing to acquire better fleets and secure their runs. Along with the upgrade was the announcement that the United Nations Development Program was providing funding for Belize to acquire a fleet of electric buses, two for Belize City and three for interdistrict runs across the western and northern routes. While the e-buses in the Old Capital have been a welcomed option for a couple of months now, the ones earmarked for the cross-district runs have only been in the country since last Wednesday. According to E-mobility Project Manager, Taheerah Usher, there will be two buses running in opposite directions along the western route while the third will run along the northern route. She went over the criteria for a company or individual to qualify for all three routes.

 

On the phone: Taheerah Usher, E-mobility Project Manager, UNDP Belize

“We’ve asked private operators to, um.  To indicate their interest is managing and operating these buses under that specific expression of interest, their specific criteria as a qualifications that they would be required to have in order for them to be considered to manage and operate the three buses. They would then have access to the full request form for proposals, and then they’d be able to submit their bid and then be evaluated based on those criteria that are outlined within the tender documents. The specific criteria is looking at in terms of your experience. Do you have any experience within the sector? Um, uh, looking at the financial standings, uh, within the, uh, expression, you see that there’s and I can share the link with you. There’s a specific criteria that asks in terms of providing financial. So, the financial breakdowns for the business and be able to show your financial capacity to actually operate and manage as well as the human resources. So do you have the relevant capacities within your existing, um, within your existing business to be able to, um, run these buses? So for example, your bus drivers, your conductors, and your human resources in terms of your, um, accountants and stuff like that. So I asked specifically for those criteria. And then based on that, then we’d be able to, with their submission, evaluate whether or not they meet those minimum criteria.”