By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
The Baha Mar resort’s opening will likely come “months and months” after a new purchaser has stepped in, the Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader believes, as again criticised the Christie administration for having placed all its economic “eggs in one basket”.
“We are seeing the consequences of the delayed opening of this project,” said Branville McCartney. “We have seen the loss of 2,000 jobs, and we have seen where many persons who invested money, in addition to Bahamian contractors, not being able to get their money.
“It has had tremendous effects on the Bahamas as a whole. This Government has placed all of its eggs in one basket, and they have nothing of substance on the horizon to kick start this economy. We are looking at another possible credit rating downgrade if nothing happens with Baha Mar.
He added: “We did not want to see it get to this point where the original developer is no longer there, and that the place is really in receivership. That is not a good thing. We are hoping that all efforts are made for there to be either a new purchaser or for the development to get started.
“The reality is that it’s not going to happen overnight. This Government has made a number of predictions as to when it would happen. There are so many things to be done for this resort to open. It’s going to take a tremendous amount of time and it’s not going to be an easy task.”
Mr McCartney said the Government must acknowledge it played a role in the demise of the development. “The Government allowed the project to move forward notwithstanding the fact that it was not up to code. We see that it is going to cost $600 million to get it up to code,” he said.
“When discussions broke down between the contractor and the developer, the Government seems to have sided with the contractors. There was the public name calling of the developer, which is a no-no. It got every childish, very petty and was a bad reflection, I thought, on this administration and, by extension, a bad reflection on us as a country.
“ I would not have allowed it to get this far. I would have had them in my office and demanded that they come to some resolution, and not leave until that resolution was had.”
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID