The Tribune

By Neil Hartnell

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday said “the next six months will be very transformative for the Bahamian economy” with decisions awaited on several multi-million dollar tourism investments.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, pledged to Tribune Business that the Minnis administration was set to “make decisions in the best interest of the Bahamian people to fix our economy”.

In particular, he cited ongoing negotiations with Global Ports Holding to finalise its $250m overhaul of Nassau’s cruise port, together with the ITM Group/Royal Caribbean joint venture to acquire the Grand Lucayan, adding that talks with both were “proceeding according to plan”.

“The next six months will be very transformative for the Bahamian economy with lots of decisions to take, and lots of transactions to ponder and consider,” Mr D’Aguilar told this newspaper, “and make decisions in the best interests of the Bahamian people to fix our economy.

“We’ve got the Carnival port deal, the ITM/Royal Caribbean deal, the port of Nassau, Nassau Flight Services privatisation, airspace revenue sharing; obviously the one at Baha Mar has been negotiated. They’re forging ahead with their water park. That’s happening.

“Hurricane Hole, The Pointe, GoldWynn are in motion. Albany is always in motion. There are endless deals in the Family Islands. All these things are being vetted, approved and are in motion.”

Little has been heard of Nassau Cruise Port’s management outsourcing since the Government unveiled Global Ports Holding, the Turkish-headquartered, UK-listed ports operator as the preferred bidder back in February.

Mr D’Aguilar said then that he hoped the deal would increase cruise passenger spending in Nassau by between 20-30 percent, and yesterday he reassured that there had been “no hiccups, no breakdowns” in talks with either Global Ports Holding or ITM/Royal Caribbean on the Grand Lucayan.

“I think we’re going fine,” he added of the Nassau Cruise Port. “It’s a negotiating process. We’re all engaged, we’re all talking. We’re going through the document paragraph by paragraph, which is somewhat tedious but necessary, and ultimately it will go before Cabinet once it’s agreed.

“Nothing is out of the ordinary. We’re making good progress. Every time they meet they negotiate the points and move on.” Mr D’Aguilar said he had no specific date he was targeting to conclude a deal with Global Port Holdings, adding that such negotiating these agreements sometimes “take on a life of their own”.

“We’re planning for as short as possible a time to get it going,” he told Tribune Business. “The Government has made the decision to embark on this journey. We’ve made the decision that we want to get the deal done and get on with the redevelopment.

“We believe that [the cruise port] will serve as the catalyst for the redevelopment of downtown, and when people see the investment in the port happening - and they can touch it, feel it, see it -that will demonstrate the seriousness of the Government to make it happen and hopefully other stakeholders on Bay Street will embark on developments of their own to bring about the transformation of downtown.”

Mr D’Aguilar added that the Grand Lucayan talks with ITM/Royal Caribbean were also “proceeding to plan”, although they were not as far advanced as the talks on the Nassau cruise port. He said the joint venture was proceeding with its due diligence prior to negotiations with the Government beginning in earnest.

“Everything’s proceeding according to plan; there’s no hiccups, no breakdowns, nothing negative to report,” he told Tribune Business. “They’re contemplating the Heads of Agreement, what form and structure that should take, but are still in the infancy stages of that.”