The debate over the government’s multimillion-dollar support for Belize Electricity Limited is growing, as BEL reportedly faces even greater financial pressure. Earlier this year, the government defended a $73 million investment in BEL, amid concerns that the money was needed to cover mounting debts to Mexico’s CFE and other operating costs. Now BEL is saying it needs an additional $20 million to meet its obligations to CFE and keep the electricity supply steady. So is it a bailout? Some might say it is, but the PM says, don’t use that word anymore:
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I think we need to stop using the word bailout because remember we own BEL, it’s our asset that we own. And we need also to recognize the challenges that all power companies are facing worldwide. The big one is the cost of diesel that has continues to go up. The price of diesel has more than doubled from since the beginning of the of the Iraq war. We have to make sure that we can keep the lights on. We have to be able to serve the people with energy and at the same time it is an asset that all of us own. So whatever we put in there it is an investment and that we hope that eventually we’ll be able to recoup, not necessarily by keeping prices high, but by be able to find cheaper sources of energy, which is what we’re doing as we speak.”
PM Briceño Blames UDP for BEL Crisis
And another question that many are asking is: how is it that BEL found itself in so much debt. As we mentioned, the company needs tens of millions of dollars to meet its obligations to CFE. So, who is to blame for the hole that BEL finds itself in? Here’s how the PM answered that question.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I don’t want to get into problems in any foreign country, but it certainly was not created here in Belize. But if you really want to look locally, I think former CEO John Mencias put it right. This problem started in twenty twelve when the previous government did nothing to put in new sources of power. We have been working arduously in trying to address this issue since we got into government. We would have had solar power this year. In October of last year when I met with PUC and BEL, BEL advised us that there is a crisis, that there’s a shortage of electricity. The government then, when we went to cabinet Minister Chebat brought it to cabinet and the cabinet agreed to call for to allow BEL and PUC to – or to approve the call for energy, sources of energy because of this shortfall, but it was a crisis.”
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.
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