The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Chamber of Commerce’s chairman says it would be “foolhardy to squander” the National Development Plan by filing it away on the shelf and subsequently forgetting about it.

Gowon Bowe said too much was at stake for politicians to “fall into that trap”, and allow the Plan to suffer a fate that has befallen numerous prior reports and studies conducted for the Government.

“Any policymaker that has laid out that we’re going through the National Development Plan initiative, spending resources, taking grants from funding agencies in terms of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), asking for stakeholders to come together and to then squander it, would be foolhardy and I don’t think we’ll fall into that trap,” Mr Bowe said.

“It would really be a disappointment that no politician would want to go into the next election with, having built up something so integral to our future development.”

Speaking at a press conference to preview this Thursday’s Bahamas Business Outlook conference, at which he will be one of the speakers, Mr Bowe said his greatest concern with the Plan was that “the end result” did not foster the country’s future growth.

“The most important element is that we come out with a truly National Development Plan,” the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) chair said.

He called for partisan politics and confrontational opinions to be “put aside” in its crafting, adding that while persons “may not have what they want” included in the Plan, it was vital that all Bahamians “get behind it and support it” once completed - as this nation’s competitors have done.

Mr Bowe was backed by Michael Maura, Arawak Port Development Company’s (APD) chief executive, who called for the Plan to be treated as a living, breathing document.

He emphasised that the National Development Plan would have to be constantly tweaked and adjusted as circumstances demanded, although its core underpinning principles would likely remain unchanged.

“From my perspective, when we look at a National Plan we shouldn’t treat it as if it’s something bound and published,” Mr Maura said. “It needs to be dynamic. There’s so much in front of us. There’s so much going on.”

Paramount among these issues, the APD chief explained, was the timing and extent of any increase in the Value-Added Tax (VAT) rate, and whether it would rise from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent, and eventually 15 per cent.

And, parallel with this, Mr Maura said it was unknown what the economic impact on tourism and industry would be from future import tariff reductions.

Both Messrs Bowe and Maura said it was more important to get the National Development Plan right than rush its completion. And participation by the broadest possible cross-section of society - government, private sector and civil society - was vital to obtaining the necessary outcome.

The Government has enlisted support from the private sector and IDB to help craft the Plan, which aims to guide the Bahamas’ social and economic development for several decades.