For weeks now, we've been reporting on the problems with the Caye Caulker airstrip. Both Tropic Air and Maya Island Air have suspended flights to that destination because of the condition of the runway. They say the Belize Airports Authority has to fix it urgently - and every day they don't tourists are inconvenienced and the airlines lose money. Well, the BAA has been trying to source funding for this multi-million dollar venture, but without much success.
Today the leader of the opposition pounced on a confidential report that the opposition got its hands on. It says that the amount of funding for the runway refurbishment that the BAA is trying to get from Social Security is 7 million dollars. Opposition leader John Briceno noted with pleasure that the Prime Minster said in the House of Representatives on Friday that it was four million dollars:...
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"Today I got a copy of a confidential memorandum from the investment services unit of the Social Security Board and this report is pointing out that the Belize Airport Authority was in deed applying for 7 million dollars. Now, the Prime Minister was either being completely dishonest to me and the Belizean people when he said it was not 7 million but 4 million, or he is being incompetent because he does not know what is happening in his government."
"The point we are making is that we are finding out that the Belize Airport Authority has already borrowed 16.5 million dollars. They want to borrow another 7 million dollars. That would make it 23.5 million dollars. And according to this report, this very same report I am talking about, this report is saying that the BAA (Belize Airport Authority) is going to have major problems in making their loan payments."
"They are pointing out that the BAA revenues, the projections they are making they are too optimistic. The investment services unit made an analysis of the revenues collected from 2011 to 2017 and they found out that in average of every dollar they claim that they are going to collect, they only collect 75 cents."
"In effect, the investment services unit is telling the Social Security management and board that it is a bad loan. It is a bad investment that they should make."
"So I am putting on record, I am saying that the Belize Social Security Board should not lend them. Not 7 million, not 4 million. They should not give them any more money because then they are going to be over exposed."
"I want all the members of the Belize Social Security Board to know that my party will hold them personally accountable and responsible for all the questionable loans that they have given, including this one should they approve it."
"And secondly, just by looking at what the investment services unit, the recommendations that they have made that they should reject the 7 million dollar loan. Not a 4 million dollar loan, not another dollar should be loan to the Belize Airport Authority."
As we understand it, the Social Security Investment Committee has rejected the loan application. Our sources say that the BAA is now trying to trim it down and re-package it for three or four million dollars. They will then ask Social Security to reconsider it.
But, opposition leader Briceno took a look through his Aviator glasses and said that they only need one or two million dollars:...
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Oposition
"We don't need 7 million. We don't need 4 million to fix the runway. But what is happening is that they are taking advantage of fixing the runway for the hustle to happen. So now they are expanding and put all kinds of bells and whistles when what we really need to address right now is the runway and if this government would stop thinking about the hustling, I am sure that we could find that million or 2 million to be able to address that issue."
"If they can spend almost one hundred million dollars through BIL and they could flip and say okay 3 million dollars lose okay we have to go and find the money to fix it. Why is it that they can't fix the Caye Caulker Airstrip that is an integral part of our tourism industry?"
Reports say that the local airlines lose revenue of over 200 thousand dollars monthly while the Caye Caulker Airstrip is closed.
Email
Print