The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Society of Engineers (BSE) president yesterday bemoaned how local professionals were frequently being ‘frozen out’ of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, with work “never touching our soil”.

DeCosta Bethel, a manager/consultant at Engineers & Consultants, said the Bahamian economy was also being hampered by a lack of manufacturing and export activity, which undermined its foreign exchange earning potential.

Speaking at the launch of the Bahamas Coalition of Services Industries, Mr Bethel, a former long-serving BEC executive, warned that the inability of local engineers to consistently secure significant work on major FDI projects was “stymieing” the development of Bahamian intellectual capital.

Expressing delight at the Coalition’s launch, Mr Bethel expressed hope that it “will assist us in two major issues, with which we have major concerns”.

“Bahamian engineers are not involved too much in large engineering projects in this country, and there is a very real need to improve manufacturing and industrial activity in this country,” the BSE president said.

Having identified his concerns, Mr Bethel added: “We are poignantly aware that large amounts of work for Bahamian projects are performed by non-Bahamian engineers, either in or outside.”

He said this resulted in a loss of professional experience and expertise for Bahamian engineers, plus a reduction in their potential contribution to economic growth and gross domestic product (GDP).

“Funds never touch Bahamian soil or never circulate within these borders,” Mr Bethel added of the compensation paid to foreign engineers, something he cited as “a major contributor to stymieing Bahamian intellectual capital”.

The Government enacted the Professional Engineers Act in 2004, creating a Board to self-regulate the profession and ensure all practicing professionals have the appropriate qualifications, expertise and are duly registered.

This was done, in part, to control the amount of work being done in the Bahamas by foreign engineers, but concerns such as Mr Bethel’s continue to be expressed with regard to local involvement on FDI projects, with The Pointe in downtown Nassau among those that Tribune Business understands is receiving scrutiny.

Turning to his second concern, Mr Bethel added: “Exports are something that is woefully lacking in the Bahamas, and there is a very real need to develop manufacturing and industrial activity.

“These have been greatly underserved, and can result in a substantial earning capacity for this nation.”

The Bahamas has seen the loss of manufacturers such as Bacardi in recent decades, with relatively high labour and utilities costs cited as the main obstacles to this nation developing an industrial base.

Freeport, though, has retained all its major industrial firms, while Morton Salt remains operational on Inagua.

Mr Bethel, though, cited the example of Jamaica, where 500 different products had been approved for export to the US, Canada and Europe.

He added that expanding the Bahamas’ manufacturing and industrial capacity, especially in the export sector, would boost foreign currency earnings and “reduce the flight of dollars earned in the tourism industry”. Presently, 85 cents in every $1 earned by the latter sector goes straight back out of the Bahamas.

The Bahamas Coalition of Services Industries has been formed to boost this segment’s competitiveness, enhancing its export capacity and providing it with the knowledge, support and training to play a greater role in international trade and the world economy.

Keva Bain, the acting director of trade in the Ministry of Financial Services, said the Coalition’s formation would ensure “the Bahamas is not left out or left behind”, and that its services sectors are able to “participate in and benefit” from all international trade deals this nation enters.