THIS WEEK IN THE BAHAMAS (17 – 21 AUGUST 2015)
Freeport Air Traffic Controllers walk off the job
Air Traffic Controllers assigned to the Grand Bahama International Airport walked off the job on Tuesday, discount cialis ambulance 18th August, cialis sales forcing the scheduled summer flight from Canada’s Sunwings Travel Group via Vacation Express with 186 passengers to be diverted to the Linden Pindling International Airport in Nassau.
The dispute was reportedly over unpaid overtime to control tower workers.
Passengers were put up in a Nassau hotel overnight and flown to Freeport on Wednesday where the Grand Bahama Office of the Ministry of Tourism “pulled out all the stops and tourism officials met and greeted the visitors, and provided them with treats Grand Bahama style.”
The flight originated from the Philadelphia tri-state area and represents an important partnership between Sunwings and the Ministry of Tourism to increase airlift to the island of Grand Bahama as the government works assiduously to cause an economic turnaround on that island.
Baha Mar provisional liquidator hearings continue in Supreme Court
Legal representatives from the government, Baha Mar, China Construction of America and the China EXIM Bank continued their legal arguments before Justice Ian Winder for the court appointment of a provisional liquidator for the Baha Mar Resort. Up to Wednesday, 19th August, the partners were unable to agree on an out of court settlement to finish the resort that is some 97% completed.
Lead attorney for the crown, Simon Peter Knox outlined five reasons why seven Baha Mar companies should be liquidated.
Baha Mar’s legal team argued on Thursday that Justice Winder should dismiss the government’s winding up petition for the appointment of provisional liquidators in order to speed up completion of the stalled Cable Beach development, characterizing the government’s case as a “slap-dash liquidation petition.”
The consequence of a dismissal of the liquidation petition being advanced by the Bahamas government and an adoption of the Delaware court’s bankruptcy decisions is that the developer gets to walk away from the debts he incurred while maintaining control of the Baha Mar assets. The developer owes Bahamian contractors and creditors over $100 million in goods and services delivered in addition to $2.4 billion in loans from the China EXIM Bank.
Rosewood Hotels wants out of Baha Mar
Rosewood Hotels and Resorts International, a luxury hotel brand at the stalled Baha Mar resort, on Wednesday filed a motion in a Delaware bankruptcy court to terminate its license and sever all contractual ties with the $3.5 billion property on Nassau’s Cable Beach strip.
In its filed motion Rosewood luxury Hotels claimed that Baha Mar “induced” it to enter into an agreement on the premise that it held the title to the Cable Beach property when it in fact did not.
In a Travel Weekly report, Baha Mar charged on Thursday that the government of The Bahamas is to blame for a decision by one of its luxury brands (Rosewood) to seek to terminate its agreement with the mega resort.
In its response to the Travel Weekly report, the Bahamas government corrected the record, indicating via press release that Travel Weekly was reporting on “what is clearly a commercial dispute between Baha Mar and Rosewood. As such, it is a matter exclusively for Baha Mar, Rosewood, and the courts to resolve.”
Further, the Bahamas government restated its policy position on the resumption of development at Baha Mar, pointing out that “it is both in the best interest of our country and all parties in the project to resolve the matter out of court. If that is not possible, the matter will best be resolved under Bahamian Law, which allows for the appointment of a third-party liquidator who will work to ensure timely completion and opening of the resort under private ownership and operation.”