A RECKONING WITH THE GRAND BAHAMA PORT AUTHORITY

Last year, the Prime Minister Philip Davis announced to the country that ‘push had come to shove’ and that the status quo in Freeport, Grand Bahama could not continue. One of the factors he mentioned was that every other island in The Bahamas had shown GDP growth but Grand Bahama’s had declined. The city’s owners were not pulling their weight. They were either unwilling or unable to provide the money to keep the city going.

Under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement,  they were to provide the infrastructure for Freeport and its upkeep.  They were to provide the city and bring business to the city. The Grand Bahama Port Authority has done little or next to nothing on any of those points.

What was the Government to do?  Last year they made an offer to buy the shares off the Port’s owners.  They refused.

Last week, the Prime Minister indicated that he had had enough of the Grand Bahama Port Authority and its feeble excuses as to why they cannot produce what they were supposed to do.  He offered a price for the shares. The families that owned the Port dillied and dallied with one of them going publicly to resist the offer.

Last week the Chairman of the PLP indicated that the Prime Minister had thrown in the towel on the other.  The offer has now been withdrawn by the government, Government will pursue the remedy of arbitration to recover under the terms of a private agreement that the Port was to reimburse the government services it provided to the city, The bill is believed to be somewhere around 150 million.

The Port responded by saying that they urged the government to return to the talking shop about the issues so that there is no shaking of investor confidence. This sounds like the usual political confidence trick. The Government’s actions had nothing to do with a lack of investor confidence.  The loss of confidence if there is any has to do with the endless red tape from the Port for business applications, the usuary fees that they impose, and their inability to find capital to upkeep the city.

Bottom line: the offer to buy is off the table and the matter is headed to arbitration.

In the words of the Obeah Man Tony McKay: “ Pay me what you owe me”.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 20 January 2024 up to midnight: 329,792;

Number of hits for the month of January up to Saturday 20 January 2024 up to midnight: 933,456;

Number of hits for the year 2024 up to Saturday 20 January 2024 up to midnight: 933,456;