The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A two-time Bahamas Real Estate Association (BREA) president believes his father’s home island can “aspire to be the Abaco of the south”, and is willing to invest his own money to make this happen.

Patrick Strachan, head of Pat Strachan Realty, told Tribune Business that Cat Island’s population could triple within a decade to 5,000 persons if the necessary infrastructure and promotional investments were made to facilitate development.

Disclosing that he was currently assessing his own investment project in the Greenwood Estates area, Mr Strachan said it was vital for Cat Islanders to return home and revive a “dead” economy.

The ex-BREA chief said the southern Bahamas “needs help like yesterday” if the population is to sustain itself, adding that the constant migration of young persons to Nassau and abroad had left islands in the area dying a slow death.

He added that kickstarting the long-awaited PGA Village project would be “the crowning glory” for both Cat Island and the Christie administration, as its success would lift the entire island.

Mr Strachan, who is president of the Cat Island Sailing Association, described airlift into the island as “probably the most important” of its infrastructure challenges.

Only Sky Bahamas provides regular commercial service, and the ex-BREA president said it was critical to Cat Island’s development prospects that Bahamasair and US-based airlines start providing increased access for Bahamians and tourists.

The PGA Village development, led by the Cat Island Partners consortium, has been held up by the need to redevelop New Bight Airport.

Differences between the Government and developer over cost and design, and who is responsible for what, have contributed to the delay. However, Mr Strachan said he had been told by Ministry of Works staff that upgrades to New Bight airport should begin in November this year.

Looking at Club Med’s impact on San Salvador, Mr Strachan said of the PGA Village project: “That would be the crowning glory for Cat Island were that to happen.

“We would have full employment, stimulate the economy and get Cat Island going again. I would encourage the Government to work hard to make it happen, especially the MP for Cat Island. The resort is a necessity.”

Emphasising that Cat Island could not rely on foreign direct investment (FDI) alone, Mr Strachan also urged the island’s diaspora and descendants to kickstart its second home market.

“There’s no reason why, if Cat Islanders could recommit themselves and dedicate themselves, we can’t aspire to be another Abaco,” he told Tribune Business, “the Abaco of the south.

“Right now, my focus is Cat Island. I think I have an obligation to help grow Cat Island. I have some plans that are in the works, and I am going to work to build Cat Island and make it better for the people on Cat Island, now and into the future.

“I’m in the initial stages of planing a development down there in Greenwood Estates, but I can’t say anything about the specifics.”

Mr Strachan said the moribund nature of Cat Island’s economy was illustrated by what happened immediately before and after its four-day annual regatta, an event he estimated injected $1.5 million into local businesses and households.

Hotels, marinas, rental car operators, airlines, grocery stores and hundreds of Cat Islanders benefited from an occasion that had to carry them financially for most of the year.

“I have seen this physically,” Mr Strachan told Tribune Business. “Things before the regatta are dead, and things after the regatta are dead. It just shows how dead things are.

‘I think that if we can get some construction going on, development going on, it will stimulate the economy and provide employment for young persons as carpenters and masons.”

Mr Strachan said Cat Island itself needed to come up with a “vision” or mission statement that would act as the focal point for its economic revival.

He suggested the creation of a 10-person committee, comprised of persons from north, central and south Cat Island, to lead this goal. “I feel if we can get businessmen down there, people of goodwill, we can put plans and ideas in place,” Mr Strachan said.

“Within the next five to 10 years, I’d like to see the population grow from the current 1,500 to 5,000. That way, opportunities can be provide for high school graduates to stay there, and for college graduates and retirees to return.”

Mr Strachan added that the provision of drinking water, and better promotional and marketing support for the island’s boutique resorts from the Ministry of Tourism, were also vital to Cat Island’s economy.

Acknowledging that Cat island was far from the only island experiencing these difficulties, the ex-BREA president said reversing the population migration from the southern Bahamas was vital to help relieve Nassau’s overcrowding.

“You look at the southern Bahamas - Cat Island, Long Island, Mayaguana, Inagua, Crooked Island - they need help like yesterday,” he told Tribune Business.

“We need to stimulate the economy of those islands. It’s not fair that they’re being left behind. All the young people are deserting the islands, and the old people are left. The islands are going down and down.

“Thank God for Club Med on San Salvador. I have spoken to persons who have said that if there were more opportunities on the Family Islands, they’d be gone [from Nassau].”