The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday said the Post Office public-private partnership (PPP) entered into by the Christie administration may be revived after a proposal was resubmitted to the Government.

Jobeth Coleby-Davis, minister for housing and transport, indicated to reporters that the PPP arrangement with Bahamian investor, Scott Godet, for the former Independence Drive Shopping Plaza site - just across from the Post Office’s present Town Centre Mall location - is on the table once again.

When asked whether the Independence Highway location was being assessed by the Davis administration, Mrs Coleby-Davis replied: “I think that company has placed a proposal before us, and so they probably will be one of the ones that we are looking to consider.”

It was reported that businessman Scott Godet, who entered into a public-private partnership with the Perry Christie Progressive Liberal Party administration for the relocation of the Post Office just prior to the,2017 general election to the Independence Highway Plaza, took legal action against the former Free National Movement government alleging breach of contract.

Mr Godet’s $17.415m PPP was signed off by the Christie administration just one day before it was voted out of office on May 10, 2017. However, the businessman told this newspaper he was not responsible for the timing, and had warned the then-government against “leaving me out in the cold” with a multi-million dollar exposure.

He was subsequently forced to seek damages from the Government for alleged “breach of contract” via the Supreme Court. When this was pointed out to Desmond Bannister, former minister of works, he replied: “The Post Office challenge is one where they were building without a building permit.

“They were actually moving ahead on that project without a building permit. The building control officer had to go in there after a number of warnings to stop them. That Post Office had drawn protests from the Garden Hills community, and created problems with traffic. There were a litany of problems it created. It’s going to be litigated, I guess, and we’ll see what happens.”

Meanwhile, Mrs Coleby-Davis said the Government will see out the remaining two years on the Post Office’s current Town Centre Mall lease which expires at end-February 2024. In the meantime, it is seeking “expressions of interest” from developers, contractors and others with the necessary expertise to develop a new location.

Confirming that the Government is “definitely” hoping construction can begin this year, she added: “The RFP (request for proposal) comes in at the end of this month, and so we’ll go through all of the proposals and then take it to Cabinet and get a final approval on who will be carrying out the construction on that project.

“Once we have that we hope for them to start as soon as possible. “I’m asking for less than 18 months for completion.” Mrs Coleby-Davis justified the move on the basis that the existing lease “strains” taxpayers, and that Post Office services will be expanded if the Government ultimately owns the property following the expiry of a lease with the PPP developer.

The lease aroused significant controversy because Brent Symonette, then a sitting Cabinet minister, is among the Town Centre Mall’s owners with himself and his brother, Craig, holding a 50 percent equity stake in the property. The other 50 percent is owned by the Darville family.

The then-Opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) blasted the deal as a ‘conflict of interest’ given his Cabinet position, even though this was fully disclosed and the matter debated in Parliament. The lease terms also appear relatively favourable for the Government given its weak financial position.

Mr Symonette also said he was not present in The Bahamas when the Minnis Cabinet voted to move the Post Office to Town Centre Mall, as he was attending the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) Latin American regional conference.

“The lease takes a lot of strain, and puts a lot of strain on the public purse, and we don’t actually own the building. With the Post Office having its own building, we can also expand the services,” she added. “We can modernise the services, we can change what we offer, we can add new services and that brings a larger revenue stream, which would in turn take care of itself.

“But if we continue to lease it would be 20, 30, 40 years where you’re just dumping and paying out for no real ownership. So, I think it’s important for them to have their own home, and that gives us another avenue to expand our revenue streams. With the Post Office, the postal service and modernisation of it.”

However, the PPP arrangement with a private sector developer will still likely see the Government rent the Post Office for the length of time mentioned by Mrs Coleby-Davis to ensure the former gets a return on their investment.