The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The private sector has urged the Government to adopt an “all hands on deck” approach to resolving the $3.5 billion Baha Mar impasse and treat the situation as its top priority.

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), in a statement following the project’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, said Baha Mar’s challenges “are singularly the most important issue” facing the Government.

And, in a clear reference to China Construction America’s $200 million expansion at the British Colonial Hilton, the Chamber urged the Christie administration to ensure that all parties at Baha Mar prioritised the latter’s completion – and did not let other ventures become “a distraction”.

Gowon Bowe, the BCCEC’s chairman, told Tribune Business: “Our view is there’s no other single entity or collective activity that is more important than this particular project…..

“We are strongly encouraging the Government to put all hands on deck, and pull from the resource base in the country to ensure the best and brightest minds come together and help get this resolved.”

Mr Bowe said the continued delays to Baha Mar’s completion and opening represented “a huge opportunity cost”, not just for the developer (the Izmirlian family) but also the project’s Chinese financier and contractor, and the wider Bahamas.

But he urged the Government to resist any temptation to expose the Bahamian taxpayer, either via extravagant spending or investment incentives, in its haste to achieve resolution.

“This is not to open up Pandora’s Box by calling on the Government to make all sorts of concessions,” Mr Bowe confirmed.

The Chamber statement said: “Considered, deliberate and timely action must be taken, but any financial support to the resort development should be limited to amounts owed to the resort development or be based upon proper economic analyses that clearly demonstrate the benefits of such support outweigh the costs.”

Noting Baha Mar’s “extreme importance” to the Bahamian economy’s “development and sustainability”, the Chamber added that many small and medium-sized businesses – which had invested to exploit business opportunities associated with the project – would join local contractors and others among the 3,500 creditors in “bearing the weight of carrying such costs” until the Chapter 11 process finishes and the project is completed.

The BCCEC also called for party political differences to be set aside, and for the Government, Baha Mar and its Chinese partners to “negotiate in good faith” and ensure the $3.5 billion project “is completed as expeditiously as possible while maintaining the high quality standards that the resort development has promoted itself on.

“Failure to do so has significant ramifications to all parties but, more importantly, significant ramifications for the reputation and economic recovery of the Bahamas,” the Chamber added. “All parties must honour past agreements, or agree on the restructuring of such commitments.”

Then, in a clear warning to China Construction America, it said: “There are other developments in New Providence, compromising several of the parties involved in the Baha Mar resort development, which may serve as distractions to the completion of Baha Mar.

“It must be impressed upon all parties, by the Government and other stakeholders, that the completion of the Baha Mar project must take priority – not only to ensure the successful opening of Baha Mar, but also to preserve the international reputation of the Bahamas as a first-class tourism destination.”

This, the Chamber added, would benefit the $200 million British Colonial Hilton expansion, known as ‘The Pointe’.

With the Baha Mar dispute now occupying courts in the US, the UK and the Bahamas, the Chamber said the judiciary – while upholding and protecting the integrity of Bahamian law – also needed to “ensure that the swiftness of rulings is on par or better than its international counterparts”.

With Baha Mar seen as the “cornerstone” of economic recovery and development, the private sector body added: “While it is unfair to tag Baha Mar, as a private sector development, with the responsibility for jump-starting the economic resurgence desired in the Bahamas, the public perception, both local and international, has now been set and all stakeholders must work together to ensure the best outcomes.”