The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamas-based contractor yesterday said building materials and concrete suppliers had informed him they are enjoying “record years" despite the COVID-19 pandemic's devastation.

Costa Berdanis, Tarcon Construction’s president, told Bahamas Business Outlook conference that was positive for The Bahamas' economic recovery prospects as construction was among the major indicators of activity.

"All the building suppliers and the concrete companies in the island that I'm doing business with are saying they're seeing record years," he disclosed. "So that's a very positive note for me, because I always measure the economy by how well the construction industry is doing.

"If we're not moving things, then there's something wrong at the core, but we seem to be moving things. Like I said, all the concrete companies and building suppliers are having record years. So we need to focus in on that.”

Mr Bernadis said further “incentives” need to be given to Bahamian contractors to expand Airbnb construction, with the vacation rental sector growing faster than hotels or resorts. He added: “We give a lot of incentives to a lot of bigger companies and foreign companies.

"But we're not, we haven't and we don't want to give any incentives to the local contractors. I think that we can incentivise the local contractors in times like this to create some Airbnbs.”

Suggesting that he has received few investment incentives during his 30 years of doing business as a contractor in The Bahamas, Mr Berdanis said “we need to be ready for the next wave of business". He argued that boosting contractors amid COVID-19's economic fall-out is a great way to “get ahead” of things.

Mr Berdanis added that the incentives he wants to see “would obviously be duty concessions, property tax concessions. Those are granted to the bigger resorts". He added that granting these can help to “create jobs immediately".

He added: “Permitting exemptions to get through the process quicker. It takes quite a while by the time you have the money ready, and to get the money out into the economy takes quite a while. So those are type of incentives I'm talking about.”

Responding to assertions that construction companies in Freeport already receive incentives through the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), Mr Berdanis said this only applied to “some”. He added that it was the “individual homeowner” that gets these incentives, and the incentives are transferred to the homeowner and not the contractor doing the work.