The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An ex-Deputy Prime Minister yesterday said Perry Christie was effectively telling Bay Street stakeholders “to get on board or get out of the way” over Chinese plans to redevelop downtown Nassau, questioning whether the Government was trying to “socially re-engineer” the city.

Brent Symonette told Tribune Business he was “absolutely” concerned that he and his family, together with other Bay Street real estate owners and operating businesses, might be ‘railroaded’ into accepting the China State Construction plan and undefined public-private sector partnership (PPP) mentioned by Mr Christie.

And he railed at the implication that the Chinese could receive instant answers and the ‘red carpet treatment’ from the Christie administration, while Bahamian investors - such as himself - had been waiting for the same answers for 30 years.

Fearing that Bahamian economic interests could be “annihilated” or “wiped out” by a redeveloped Bay Street dominated by the Chinese, Mr Symonette said there were many unanswered questions.

Asking if the Government was engaged in “social re-engineering” to change longstanding property ownership in the downtown area, the former Deputy Prime Minister also expressed concern about the economic implications if one investor - especially one that is state-controlled - “takes over the entire capital”.

Apart from China State Construction’s role as Baha Mar’s contractor and its $150 million equity stake in that project, plus now its British Colonial Hilton ownership, Mr Symonette said he understood the company was interested in bidding on several of the $175 million PPP contracts recently issued by the Government.

He identified the $40 million Post Office Building upgrade as one contract China State Construction was interested in, and also questioned whether its equity interests at Baha Mar and the Hilton would allow it to manipulate room rates and squeeze Atlantis out of business.

And, as an aside, Mr Symonette revealed that his son’s company, BHM Bahamas (the former Bahamas Hot Mix), had just laid-off 200 Bahamians because it had been unable to win any government contracts from the current administration.

“I think the Bahamas should be very careful, especially the Bahamas Government, if we put large sectors of the country, our economy and our main industry in the hands of one entity,” Mr Symonette told Tribune Business in a phone interview from London.

“We now have a Chinese company that has a major stake in Baha Mar, owns the Hilton Hotel, and then they’re going to take over the entire capital. It’s a concern”.

Mr Symonette said similar concerns were raised over Atlantis’s ‘dominance’ of the Bahamian hotel industry during the days of Sol Kerzner’s investments on Paradise Island.

This, he added, gave rise to the question: “Is the tail wagging the dog? Or is the dog wagging the tail?” in relation to the Bahamas’ economic reliance on Kerzner and its implications for relations with the Government.

Suggesting these questions were equally valid now in relation to Beijing and China State Construction, Mr Symonette questioned whether the economic benefits from the construction of a new condo hotel next to the Hilton would be as great as those generated by Kerzner.

The question of whether the construction jobs will go to a mostly Bahamian or Chinese workforce has yet to be answered by the Government, and Mr Symonette said yesterday: “Mr Christie is very good with his words.”

He pointed out that while 80 per cent of the incomes generated from the Kerzner construction stayed in the Bahamas, those generated by a Chinese-led project would be less as all the funds would leak out abroad.

Contrasting the Government’s ‘red carpet’ treatment for China State Construction with its approach to Bahamian investors, the ex-Deputy Prime Minister said he was still waiting for answers to issues that he first sought “sitting before Sir Lynden 30 years ago”.

These issues were the redevelopment of Nassau harbour’s waterfront, and who would own reclaimed land.

“I’m not getting answers but China State Construction calls and the door opens wide for them,” Mr Symonette told Tribune Business. “Larry Roberts can’t get an answer for the height restrictions he can get for his property [Union Wharf].

“Now, what Mr Christie is telling persons like myself is get on board or get out of the way. I don’t have a Chinese passport, I’m a Bahamian. What are they going to do? Compulsorily acquire my land?.... Is this social re-engineering so the landed persons on Bay Street are wiped out? Is that the game?

“Brent Symonette may not have $300 million like the Chinese, but Brent Symonette is a Bahamian. It’s fine for Ed Fields to say: ‘We can’t be xenophobic’, but what about the Bahamians?”

Mr Symonette previously revealed to Tribune Business that he and other Bay Street real estate owners had been waiting for the Government to supply answers over the ownership, width/height and usage for the proposed harbour boardwalk that would run between Prince George’s Wharf and Potter’s Cay.

It now appears that the Prime Minister may have been waiting for the China State Construction purchase of the Hilton to close, while asking the Bahamian owners to find $170,000 for another study on downtown Nassau’s redevelopment.

“He’s [the Prime Minister] not speaking to us. That’s the problem,” Mr Symonette told Tribune Business. “We have put a proposal to the Government for the use of the boardwalk, its size and height restrictions. There is no answer from the Government.

“As a businessman, I will not invest millions of dollars unless I know what the rules are. In the meantime, the Chinese come in, and the Government rolls out the rules.”

Acknowledging that the Chinese could “buy the Bahamas and sell the Bahamas 20 times’ over”, Mr Symonette questioned what had become the Government’s ‘Bahamians first’ election pledge, or Fred Mitchell’s impassioned defences of Bahamian sovereignty.

The former ‘number two’ in the previous Ingraham administration also questioned whether the Chinese ownership interests in the two hotels would lead to “the manipulation” of room rates, with the Hilton and Baha Mar lowering theirs simultaneously to squeeze Paradise Island.

“They could wipe Atlantis out of business,” Mr Symonette warned. “Atlantis may not be able to match it.

“While we have to balance development, we have to be careful protecting Bahamians and future generations. I think that is very dangerous. Bahamians should be very worried.”

While conceding that BHM Bahamas may not have been the lowest bidder or best qualified to win specific government tenders, Mr Symonette suggested it was being excluded because of “pure politics”.

He added that this had forced the company to lay-off 200 Bahamians, while job creation for Chinese workers in the Bahamas appeared to be booming.