The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Environmental activists believe they have “little choice” but to launch a Judicial Review challenge to the $5 million Blackbeard’s Cay project, after the developers received all the necessary approvals from the Government.

Sam Duncombe, head of reearth, who has been the most vociferous critic of the development, and especially its dolphin encounter facility, said the organisation had no alternative but to turn to the Supreme Court after the Government “brushed aside” its concerns.

Asked by Tribune Business whether reearth would initiate Judicial Review proceedings to challenge the approvals granted to the developers, Mrs Duncombe responded: “I think at this point you can be pretty sure of that.

“Where we were before, there was room for negotiation. Now, they [the Government] have essentially slammed the door in our faces. I don’t see what choice we have at this point.”

Other sources familiar with developments suggested to Tribune Business that Judicial Review proceedings could be filed with the Supreme Court within the next fortnight, and possibly as early as this week.

“My concerns are that we’ve got a government that has received several letters since June explaining our concerns about this facility - that it’s not suitable for dolphins, and there’s no evidence that the developers conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),” Mrs Duncombe said.

“We’ve just been brushed aside, and they’ve gone ahead as if there’s nothing; no concerns. We want to know if this is a government working for the people or the investor.

“We’ve not had a single response to any of our questions, which are not frivolous questions.”

Mrs Duncombe said reearth’s concerns had been heightened by reports that the Blackbeard’s Cay investors, headed by St Maarten businessman, Samir Andrawos, had received all the permits necessary to start operations.

These developments have brought reearth to the point of launching Judicial Review action, with Mrs Duncombe questioning whether Blackbeard’s Cay had “circumvented” the process set out in the Planning and Subdivisions Act.

One of the Act’s requirements is that there be public consultation and Town Meetings on projects such as Blackbeard’s Cay prior to their approval.

Pointing out that such meetings never happened, Mrs Duncombe told Tribune Business: “The rule of law doesn’t exist in the Bahamas.

“I’m in a total state of shock. I can’t find the words. After recovering from the shock, we’ll figure this out.”

Sources close to the Blackbeard’s Cay developers, who also include the original Bahamian investor group, have confirmed to Tribune Business they now have all the permits required to move ahead with the project. They also confirmed that the dolphins have begun to arrive on the Cay.

The Government had been delaying the Business Licence sign-off, but that has finally happened. In a recent interview, Khaalis Rolle, minister of state for investments, confirmed the Government had temporarily delayed the Business Licences while it assessed the project’s likely impact on Bay Street businesses.

“We’re still dealing with Blackbeard’s Cay,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a project that has been approved. We’re just evaluating the overall impact that will have on the sector, particularly downtown Nassau. We did a site visit, and I’m just going to see what the reports were.”

Blackbeard’s Cay’s developers are likely to be less than thrilled about the prospect of having to deal with a Judicial Review challenge, and the negative impact this could have on their investment.

They believe they have complied with everything required of them by the Government, with the latter’s site visits and inspections said to have gone well.

The developers have also pointed out that Nassau is desperately short of excursion/attraction/tour options for visiting cruise ship passengers, hence Blackbeard’s Cay’s design as a beach break getaway. They have pledged that the project will create 200 jobs

They have also pointed out that the existing ‘dolphin encounters’, at Atlantis and Blue Lagoon, lack the capacity to meet the demand from cruise ship passengers for such an attraction.

And they have denied that Blackbeard’s Cay is intended to monopolise the business brought to Nassau by Carnival, the world’s largest cruise line, which would deprive Bay Street of much-needed customer numbers and sales.

Blackbeard’s Cay is located on Balmoral Island, a site opposite Sandals Royal Bahamian resort on New Providence’s north coast. The Bahamian shareholders include Insurance Management chief, Cedric Saunders; Spanish Wells community leader, Abner Pinder; and well-known media owner, Charles Carter.

Mr Andrawos, who works very closely with Carnival through his tour/excursion businesses in the rest of the Caribbean, was brought in by its Bahamian shareholders to turn the destination around.

Still, accusing the Government of a lack of transparency, Mrs Duncombe said of the current situation: “It’s nothing that’s not expected from a government that has hidden every step of this process from the public, and diverted questions about this facility.

“They don’t care about the concerns of the citizenry, the people they should be working for. They only care for what the developer wants - A, B, C, and they make it happen - regardless of any complaints or criticisms.”