For the past 2 nights, we've been showing you the backlash from the Caye Caulker community in response to the critical failures in public utilities on the island. The island village's all important tourism high season was ruined at its peak because the utility companies couldn't keep the island reliably supplied with light and water.
There have been mass cancelations by visitors, and the hoteliers have had to grapple with demands for full refunds. That's only part of the negative effect. The stakeholders are worried that these failures will cause the disgruntled guests to start spreading a bad name for Caye Caulker, which is rated as Belize's top emerging destination.
To try and quell the outrage from the residents and business owners, BEL bit the bullet yesterday and organized a community meeting to take criticisms, and explain themselves.
This morning, the Belize Tourism Board stepped up that effort and organized another stakeholder meeting to demonstrate to islanders that their concerns aren't being ignored at the official level.
They invited the executives from BEL, BWS, the Public Utilities Commission, and the Ministry of Tourism to face Caye Caulker residents. That face-off lasted just over 2 hours, and we have a few highlights - including an apology from the utility executives. Here's what the Tourism Minister and the bosses of both utility companies had to say to the attendees:
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism
"As the person responsible for the entire tourism in this country, I believe that it is my duty, first of all, to express my concern about what happened in Caye Caulker, and apologies really, for what happened. I believe that we could have done much better, but that is past already. So, we're here today to listen to what is being done, what will be the medium-term plans, and what will be the long-term plans."
John Mencias - CEO, BEL
"We know this is not the type of occasion we like to come to, where we're reacting to something that happened. I would first like to, again, apologize for the inconvenience and losses by residents of Caye Caulker, and all affiliated business."
"We must admit that we had not been giving Caye Caulker the focus that we need to give it. You will know that for example, up to October 2nd, or before October 2nd of this year, the distribution lines in Caye Caulker were serviced by personnel coming from San Pedro. And many times they had to come in the dead of the night. And you all had to wait to get electricity restored until they came. We have, since October, stationed 2 linemen on the island. And they will be here permanently to assist."
Alvan Haynes - CEO, BWSL
"You have not been forgotten, as some people have implied. BWS, on an annual basis, we review our business plan. We put through our capital expenditure forecast. We have just completed a 5-year business plan that was submitted to PUC. Anyone who cared to look in the details of that would have found that in the capital expenditures planned, there were a number of items of fair significance for Caye Caulker. Over the next 10 years, we have put in estimates for about 34 million dollars in capital expenditure for Caye Caulker, with about half of that being in the next 5 years, or within the next 5-year period that we're now coming up upon."
John Avery - Chairman, PUC
"The response we've heard from the public in Caye Caulker is that there is this general impression that Caye Caulker is being neglected. And I certainly want to assure the citizens, the business people and everyone out here that that isn't the case."
"I can understand that people wanted an immediate response, and it didn't come. And I can understand the frustration, but to simply assume that Caye Caulker is being neglected is not necessarily a factual statement."
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