No to BIL; Chris Coye Says Time for a New Special Purpose Vehicle

Christopher Coye

Belize Infrastructure Limited, a special purpose vehicle established under the Barrow administration to manage the construction of the Eleanor Hall Building and the Belize City Center, was drawn to a gradual close when the People’s United Party took office in late 2020.  For the purpose of the proposed public administration campus, a new SPV is being formed to oversee the building project.  But the opposition has also raised concerns about government’s decision not to revive BIL.  Earlier today, Senator Coye explained the reason behind starting a new company to manage the project.

Christopher Coye, Minister of State, Finance

“In finance, you don’t go and use legacy entities to raise… legacy entities could have all kinds of latent liabilities that could pop up at any point in time.  If somebody is going to invest in a company or lend to that company, they want it clean.  So we all have an idea of BIL but we don’t know what all BIL was involved with.  In the case of setting up a new company, you know, you know from day one, it’s clean, it doesn’t have anything.  Step one: we do the equity, step two: we reach an arrangement for bill to operate a lease agreement and step three: you introduce the debt capital into the company and then you undertake the project.  Very clean, very simple.  So I don’t see that BIL makes any sense, to be frank. When you talk about institutional investors, that’s simply people who lend they only have a fixed rate of return on that.  That’s five and a half percent, that’s what the bonds will be issued at, five and a half percent.  How dehn di laugh all di way to the bank?  That’s a loan that they are making.  You know who’s gonna laugh all the way to the bank?  Social Security Board and the Government of Belize, they are the shareholders.”

Reporter

“At the end of the thirty-year period, how much will the SSB be getting back on its thirty million investment?”

Chris Coye

“Multiples of that thirty million.  I don’t know if you have the exact figure, but multiples of that thirty million.”