The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce president yesterday hit out at "fringe environmental groups" for slamming an industrial sector that has proven the island's "life support".

Kevin Seymour, emphasising that he was not speaking for Pharmachem Technologies, told a University of the Bahamas (UoB) conference that "properly regulated and controlled" industrial activity could create major economic benefits for this nation.

"Despite the arguments and extreme views proffered by certain fringe environmentalist groups, commercialisation and industrialisation which is properly regulated and controlled has the potential to provide significant benefits to developing countries such as the Bahamas, which place heavy reliance on foreign direct investment," Mr Seymour said.

He pointed to the employment and economic benefits created by the likes of the GB Shipyard; Buckeye Partners (BORCO); Statoil; the Freeport Container Port; Polymers International; and Bradford Marine, and added: "These companies, certain of which are frequently criticised by fringe environmental groups for various reasons, including environmental degradation, have been the life support of the island's economy in recent years."

Mr Seymour did not identify the environmental groups he was referring to, although some observers may link his comments to recent criticisms of BORCO or the $5.5 billion Oban Energies project.

The former GB Chamber chief, who was addressing the topic of 'sustainable governance', said the "right safeguards" to protect workers and natural resources were "critical". He argued, though, that many companies had adopted the 'triple P' model of 'people, planet and profit', recognising this was essential to their success.

Seeking to define sustainable governance, Mr Seymour said this was rooted in governments "safeguarding at all times the long-term health of their societies' economic, social and environmental systems" - something the Bahamas, he strongly suggested, was failing to do.

"Assuming that you agree with the aforementioned ideals," he said, "and having regards to our country's burgeoning national debt, which currently exceeds $7.2 billion, our double digit rate of unemployment nationally, currently hovering at 10 per cent.... the country's less than stellar overall ranking of 119 out 190 countries with respect to the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index, our recent 'blacklisting', the lack of a generally accepted National Development Plan, [all] begs the question: Has the country's model for governance been faithful to the ideals of sustainability?" Mr Seymour said.

He also acknowledged "grave concerns about the future viability of Freeport" and the Hawksbill Creek Agreement's governance model, given that economic growth had "stalled" in recent years.