The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Investments Board was yesterday said to have produced “a drastic improvement in turnaround time” on permit approvals, although a Cabinet Minister conceded that the process has yet to meet private sector standards.

Khaalis Rolle, minister of state for investments, told Tribune Business that the Board had “streamlined” the process such that permits sought for real estate purchases by foreigners were now being dealt with on a weekly, as opposed to monthly, basis.

“Generally on the approvals side, you would seed - especially for certificates of registration and permits - there’s been a drastic improvement in turnaround time,” the Minister said.

“One of the complaints we did have was that the process was slow, and what we did was sort of streamline it.”

He explained that this involves the Investments Board (Cabinet, or a sub-committee) now meeting on a weekly, as opposed to monthly, basis to approve applications for real estate purchases by non-Bahamians.

“The approvals process, the multiple layers and the processing time, was up to a month,” Mr Rolle added.

“What we did was do it weekly. What happens now is that it is done every week, as opposed to waiting for a complete batch of applications. While in the past it was done monthly, it’s now a weekly function.”

Concerns about Investments Board delays had been raised at various intervals by attorneys and realtors since the Christie administration took office in May 2012.

Speaking in 2013, one attorney had described the situation as “the worst I’ve ever seen in my 15 years of practice”, and added: “There is major frustration among people who have applications in or are actually waiting.

“I’ve had a good number [of applications] up there for two months, and it may end up being three-four months.

Mr Rolle, though, yesterday said the situation had improved such that several attorneys had actually written to the Government praising the improved Investments Board turnaround time.

“We’ve seen where some of the law firms are saying to us that they’re very pleased with the pace things are moving at,” Mr Rolle told Tribune Business.

“Several attorneys have taken the time to write to us to say they’re pleased with the turnaround.

“That’s one of the biggest complaints they had - the permits were taking longer than they should. We’re paying more attention and making sure everyone is focusing on what we’re trying to do, making sure turnaround time is as quick as possible.”

Despite the improvement, Mr Rolle acknowledged: “We still have a long way to go meet the private sector standard of 100 per cent efficiency and effectiveness.”

He also conceded that the Government was “still challenged” to process all the applications destined for the National Economic Council (NEC), which deals with the major foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, “as quickly as we would like”.

Mr Rolle said the progress with the Investments Board’s processes was linked to both the National Development Plan and the drive for wider governance reform.

He added that the Organisation of American States (OAS) would be working with the Government and Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) to develop the proposed Competitiveness and Innovation Council, which is designed to arrest the Bahamas’ consistent slippage in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ rankings.

Mr Rolle said he and Dr Nicola Virgill-Rolle, who is spearheading work on the National Development Plan, met with Chamber executives last week to discuss the Council initiative.

“We’ve engaged the OAS, who are largely responsible for the Americas Competitiveness Council, and we’re going to use their model and framework,” Mr Rolle said.

Explaining why this nation needs a Competitiveness and Innovation Council, the BCCEC said in its annual report: “When we consider the fact that the Bahamas has been slipping consistently in the area of innovation and competitiveness, it was determined that the establishment of an Innovations Council will help to identify the areas where the country demonstrates weaknesses, and find ways to address those weaknesses, as well as drive innovation to increase the country’s competitiveness amongst other countries regionally as well as globally.

“We must begin to seriously consider ways to introduce new sustainable industries in the Bahamas to supplement the traditional pillars of our economy, tourism and financial services.

“Several areas to be considered for innovation and rapid expansion are information, communication and technology (ICT), maritime affairs and manufacturing of goods and export of goods and services.”

Mr Rolle told Tribune Business: “The story here is that we are focused on competitiveness and innovation, and we are taking some preliminary steps to get there in advance of having a formal plan in place that provides the private and public sectors with [the road map] for the massive changes we have to make to become more competitive.

“We’d like for it to move a lot quicker, but the reality is you’re dealing with entrenchment and a system that has been developed over many years.

“We’d like to see it done a lot quicker, getting the overall framework for a modern delivery system in governance.”