The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

JAMAICA- The Government is “stretched” in its capacity to manage major foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, the Prime Minister’s senior policy advisor has conceded.

Sir Baltron Bethel said the Bahamas, and governments across the Caribbean, needed to find ways to “contract out” some statutory monitoring and approval responsibilities to expedite investment processes.

Sir Baltron, who was speaking at CIBC First Caribbean’s third annual infrastructure conference, said: “We live in a fast-changing world and we have to seize the opportunities in the context of a global environment.

“The Government’s capacity to manage projects is stretched, and this is something that must be addressed because development capital does not stand still whether it is local or foreign.

“The Bahamas government and Caribbean governments must find ways, not only with their internal resources, but by contracting out some of these statutory responsibilities in order to expedite the process.”

Addressing lessons learned from Resorts World Bimini’s model as a public-private partnership (PPP), Sir Baltron said that prior to the joint venture between the new developer and RAV Bahamas, Bimini’s tourism performance was lacklustre and mirrored the “sub par”quality of its hospitality and public infrastructure.

“The Bimini Bay Resort was unprofitable, mainly due to the lack of adequate transportation, accessibility marketing and branding,” he said.

Sir Baltron added that within two years, Resorts World had invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Bimini’s public infrastructure, and undertaken the development of a 325–room marina hotel, a casino, restaurants a deep water pier, upgrades to the airport and the introduction of a cruise ship and the acquisition of aircraft dedicated to transportation to Bimini.

“The Government extended the normal concessions granted to resort developments,” Sir Baltron said.

“The public works are funded by the developers and will be repaid by the Government through reduction in casino taxes over an extended period. The economic impact from the project has been very significant. Annual visitors to Bimini have increased in two years from 20,000 to 100,000 with as many as 500,000 projected annual within the next four years.”