PM Says Acquiring the Port was the Best Decision

And while Prime Minister Briceño has addressed the issue of the port acquisition on previous occasions, the issue remains a live matter as many continue to weigh in on government’s latest major decision.  PM Briceño said that the government believes that acquiring back the port is the best decision that it could have made because the receivers were not investing in the facility.

Prime Minister John Briceño

Prime Minister John Briceño

“We have what we call an  interim CEO and interim. Um, board of directors, what is important for us that as soon as we get in, we need to get the work done. I mean, we, there’s a lot of work to be done. We know that the, uh, the assets have been deteriorating over the years. We know that the receiver and also the previous owners did very little to take care of the, of this asset. So, um, as being the, the national port of Belize, the most important port of Belize. As a government, we felt it was important that if the then owners were not interested in investing in, in, um, the port, I think it was best for us to be able to sit down to negotiate a settlement for us to be able to take over the port. We did not want to go down the line of nationalization. We have seen what happened with the previous government in 2009 when they nationalized BTL, and it was fight after fight, and the liars made millions of dollars. And we wanted to avoid that. And then to ensure that we can find a settlement that would be  in the interest of Belize. And we believe that that’s what we accomplished. Now, the Stevedores, um,  they need to understand that we are just taking over this company. And we need to try to see how we can fix it. And I am sure that the Interim Board will probably find the time to be able to meet with them.”