By YOURI KEMP
Tribune Business Reporter
ykemp@tribunemedia.net
The Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation’s (BAIC) chairman has revealed a new industrial park will be created on Carmichael Road as the Government seeks a $50m credit line to further boost small businesses.
Leroy Major, also MP for Southern Shores, told a Town Hall meeting at BAIC’s Old Fire Trail Road headquarters that the existing Soldier Road Industrial Park simply has insufficient space to meet demand with 50 entrepreneurs now on a waiting list to lease property in the light manufacturing facility.
Roman Knowles, director of the Bahamas Light Industries Development Council (BLDC), hailed plans for a second industrial park in the Carmichael Road are as a “plan to grow The Bahamas” as trade starts to pick back up for its members.
Pointing out that the light industrial sector can, if effectively nurtured, promote entrepreneurship and help create new Bahamian industries, Mr Knowles added: “It creates a feeling of belonging. It gives us an identity.”
Meanwhile Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, said the Government’s commitment to small businesses will extend the $250m in financing it has promised to make available over the next five years at an average of $50m-plus per year. He added: “It’s actually going to be a little more than that. A lot more than that, and that’s the good news.
“We are in discussions with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for a line of up to $50m. That money is going to be allocated amongst the various industries. Hopefully there will be a substantial allocation of that for BAIC to replicate this complex elsewhere in The Bahamas to help grow small businesses; not just in New Providence but in the Family Islands.
“Another part of that funding will go towards the Bahamas Development Bank as well as to the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC). That’s cash. The other part is with respect to exemptions and tax exemptions.”
The Bahamas Light Industries Development Council and Ministry of Finance have had “positive discussions” on “expanding” the list of exemptions needed to better spur the growth of small businesses. “The Ministry of Finance has an open door for businesses which manufacture in The Bahamas… That is very important to us, and we are always seeking ways to expand exemptions and tax breaks.
The Ministry of Finance is also moving the approval process for tax break requests online, as well as all requisitions for exemptions. “That’s a big part of what we do for small businesses and that is in the millions per annum in terms of support,” Mr Wilson said.
He explained that the Government has made the process easier for small businesses to apply for duty exemptions, and has become more flexible in its offering of duty exemptions for vehicles and manufacturing parts.
The third use of the proposed CBD financing will be training for small businesses, which is why the Government created the SBDC. “From the Ministry of Finance’s perspective, that is very important. Most businesses in The Bahamas fail not from a lack of resources. They fail because of a lack of administrative knowledge of what to do,” Mr Wilson said.
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