By Breaking Belize News Staff: Prime Minister John Briceño says he personally raised Belize’s long-delayed solar energy financing arrangement with Saudi Arabia’s finance minister during meetings in Bangkok, Thailand.
Briceño explained that he attended a small gathering involving several high-level participants, including the Saudi finance minister, where he took the opportunity to raise concerns over the delayed project.
According to the Prime Minister, the Saudi official was not fully familiar with the details but assured him that he would examine the matter.
Briceño expressed optimism that the discussion could help move the project forward.
Belize signed a US$77 million financing agreement with the Saudi Fund for Development in August 2023 to support the construction of a 60-megawatt solar energy project.
However, as Breaking Belize News reported in August, Minister of Public Utilities Michel Chebat confirmed that no funds had been disbursed three years after the agreement was signed.
Chebat previously attributed the delays to procurement requirements, engineering consultations and procedures imposed under the Saudi financing arrangement.
The government has also discussed restructuring the project to combine solar generation with battery storage.
While Briceño described his conversation with the Saudi finance minister as encouraging, he did not announce a specific date for disbursement or the start of construction.
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