Port Receivership Shows Profit of Between $12 and $13 Million

Prime Minister John Briceño

The acquisition of the Port of Belize by the government and the Settlement Deeds Bill seeks authorization to purchase the port, along with six hundred acres of adjoining lands. Along with that is the appropriation of US fifteen point three million dollars to resolve long-outstanding judgment awards, and the withdrawal of all Ashcroft claims and cases against government. Today, Prime Minister John Briceño said the negotiations were not an overnight event and the figures show the receivership has been earning a profit of between twelve and thirteen million dollars each year.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“This was a 60-day negotiation, so it was not an overnight – it was a long, arduous negotiation and I must commend both sides, both the Ashcroft Alliance and or the consortium and government that our negotiators that wanted to find a solution to the issue of the port. And a part of the negotiations were that they had to provide their financials that they have had before. Now these are audited financials, but based on the financials that have been presented to us they’ve shown that they’ve been making an income between $12 and 13 million. I have not seen it, but this is the report that I’ve been given.”

Reporter

“In terms of the stevedores, they’re asking for their ESAT money from the ruling – the ESAT ruling on the redundancy of sugar – $4.9 million.”

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Yeah, well that is again – we have appointed a new board – an interim board, and I met with the chairman yesterday, the interim chairman, Dr. Gilly Canton. H’es somebody that’s a well-known and very respectable person, along with Mr. Tux Vasquez, who is the interim C.E.O. We chose Mr. Vasquez simply because he was there for several years, so we need somebody that knows what’s going on there. We don’t have to go through that learning curve, and so the idea is that then, they are going to be addressing all of these issues.”