By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
Freeport should not be taken over by central government control, the Opposition’s finance spokesman said yesterday, arguing that its Family Island failures gave the city no reason to believe it would have more success on Grand Bahama.
K. P. Turnquest, the East Grand Bahama MP, said: “What I would hate to see is for them to talk about returning control of Freeport to central government. Central government has not done a very good job in terms of how it has promoted and caused development in these Family Islands.
“We have no reason to believe Grand Bahama would be any different, although it would have a running start because of the infrastructure already there. Freeport is a tremendous asset, a jewel in the crown of the Bahamas, but we have done as much as we can to throw dirt on it.”
The Government is extending the Hawksbill Creek Agreement’s (HCA) expiring tax incentives for a further six months until early February 2016. Speaking to those incentives, Mr Turnquest said: “I believe that there is an opportunity here for us to create a new vision for Freeport in terms of how the local municipality operates.
“It is a model that I think can be duplicated in the rest of the Family Islands. It centres around getting Bahamians more involved in the city, not just from a low level maintenance position which is what more or less the local government does now.”
The Minister for Grand Bahama, Dr Michael Darville, during his contribution to the House of Aeembly debate on the Bill that will allow for the extension of the incentives expiring on August 4, said the move was “necessary to enable a detailed analysis and further consultation, particularly and specifically to create a platform or a foundation for Grand Bahama to have a better opportunity to realise its full potential, in the national interest of all Bahamians.”
“Much has changed in Grand Bahama since 1993, when the former administration extended those same provisions of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement for 22 years, for an estimated cash consideration in the range of $25-$35 million,” Dr Darville said.
“This arrangement may have been sufficient in those times, given the hope by the former administration that such a generous act would have provided an incentive for the Grand Bahama Port Authority to attract additional investments to expand the economy of the island.
“However, this did not happen because there were no measures put in place by the former government to monitor the commitments of that Agreement for compliance, and today these commitments remain questionable as to whether or not they have all been satisfactorily fulfilled.”
Dr Darville added: “The imminent expiration of these concessions has provided an opportunity for the Government to secure a comprehensive set of new arrangements, which, if executed properly, can spur further economic development and increase Grand Bahama Island’s contribution to the public purse.”
He said that if Freeport is to remain a competitive Free Trade Zone (FTZ), “the Government must find ways to cause the existing and/or new developers to inject the necessary capital for the construction of first class, regional logistics and distribution centres, warehousing and storage facilities, in addition to diversifying the economy with investments in agricultural, medical tourism and boutique resort projects”.
“The tax exemptions, which will be considered for renewal over the next six months, are a small part of this administration’s analysis of the way forward. In the long term, the future of the city of Freeport involves a deep discussion in the overall context of national development.,” said Dr Darville.
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