Stakeholders Meet over School Bus Contracts

A meeting was held today between school bus operators from the south, the Minister of State for Education, Doctor Louis Zabaneh, C.E.O. Dian Maheia and a finance officer, over their contracts. The bus operators claim that they are operating at a loss due to increases in fuel prices and so the ministry is reaching out to see what kind of relief can be given to them. Minister Francis Fonseca shares G.O.B.’s perspective on the matter.

Francis Fonseca

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“They signed off on contracts at a specific value and of course that value no longer fits in with the cost of fuel. So it is something that we are working along with them to try to address. I can tell you that today, this afternoon at one o’clock, Minister Zabaneh, along with the C.E.O., is meeting with bus contractors in the south, both from Toledo and Stann Creek; they are meeting in Independence along with the finance officer of the ministry to address this issue, to address their concerns. And coming out of the meeting this afternoon, they will make specific recommendations to me about what we can do to address concerns that arise. It is really an issue of economics; it’s not capacity, it’s economics. I’ve already discussed it with the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister to see. We will have to adjust the contracts because the people are not making money; in fact, they are losing money given the cost of fuel, diesel. So we are working on that, but as I said, we want to have this meeting today because the main problem is in the south of the country. We want to have this meeting today and coming out of that meeting, next week we will put together specific recommendations to the Ministry of Finance to address the matter.”