THE GRAND BAHAMA PORT AUTHORITY PUT THEIR FOOT IN IT

Prime Minister Philip Davis had a good showing in Freeport when he visited there on Thursday and Friday 17 and 18 August 2023. He was pleased at the progress at east Grand Bahama and ordered some immediate repairs for people’s houses in Grand Bahama, where there has been foot dragging.  The people of Freeport have largely been left to their own devices, and the body that is supposed to be helping is the Grand Bahama Port Authority.

The Port Authority may as well be an absent landlord.  They are patching roads and demanding service fees but the population of the islands is declining and the main business they seem to have is demolishing old buildings.  Where is the growth of the city?

The Prime Minister in his press conference before leaving said that he could no longer subsidize the Grand Bahama Port Authority.  Instead of leaving well enough alone, the Port on 21 August 2023 responded with a statement of its own, saying the Prime Minister was wrong to say that the Government was subsidizing the Port.

How so said the Chairman of the PLP Fred Mitchell: The Government of The Bahamas forgave 8 million dollars of land taxes when it extended the exemption from real property tax back in 2016.  That’s some 84 million dollars the Port would have had to pay if the taxes were in fact due but they were waived.  That is a subsidy by another name.

The attack on the Prime Minister is inept politically, and if the Port does not watch out, push will come to shove.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 26 August 2023 up to midnight: 472,840;

Number of hits for the month of August 2023 up to 26 August 2023 up to midnight: 1,673,110;

Number of hits for the year 2023 up to Saturday 26 August 2023 up to midnight: 14,675,182;