The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government’s aviation chief yesterday revealed that the $65m price tag for North Eleuthera’s new airport is being “scaled back” to ensure investors can achieve the desired return on their capital outlay.

Dr Kenneth Romer, also the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation’s deputy director-general, told the Eleuthera Business Outlook conference that the cost and extent of development “has to make sense” for potential bidders who will seek to win the public-private partnership (PPP) contract to build, operate and maintain the facility under a long-term lease agreement with the Government.

He explained that the North Eleuthera airport’s new design is not a part of the process as the Government has sought to “jump start” the redevelopment by going out to bid on this aspect via a separate tender. With the design set to be completed in October, and then go to Cabinet for approval shortly afterwards, Dr Romer said construction work is forecast to take 24 months with the new facility opening in 2025.

“The design is not a part of the investment model,” he confirmed, “because we have already gone out to bid and already jump started North Eleuthera. We have an active bidding process. We’re not putting out someone to design North Eleuthera.” The airport, one of the fastest-growing in The Bahamas in terms of traffic and demand, will remain open during the construction work.

Explaining the decision to reduce the $65m investment cost, Dr Romer said: “We’re going to scale that figure down. It has to make sense. Investors are going to ask what will be the right price point to get a return on investment in Eleuthera. We’re going to scale it back a bit. It’s not going to be $65m for the total development cost.

“You’re going to find out you will get the bells and whistle but, at the same time, get a resilient and sustainable airport. Right now, as we speak, we’re having the design completed by October this year. It will then go to Cabinet and afterwards construction is set for 24 months... We can’t build for what’s happening right now. We have to build for what we see happening in the future. North Eleuthera is one of our biggest demand airports alongside Exuma.”

Elsewhere, Dr Romer said the likely investment required at Exuma’s Staniel Cay airport will double from $2m to $5m due to the amount of traffic it is catering to. He described the Exuma Cays as “the new Maldives for The Bahamas”, with work due to be performed on the Staniel Cay runway and landing strip next week.

The Ministry of Tourism, Aviation and Investments is estimating that a collective $263m investment will be required to turn the 14 selected airports into hubs of a size and standard appropriate for their location. Exuma and North Eleuthera are projected to require the greatest capital spend, at around $65m each, with Governor’s Harbour, Rock Sound, New Bight and Deadman’s Cay (Long Island) all pegged at around $18m apiece.

San Salvador was projected to carry a $15m price tag, with the quartet of Marsh Harbour, Sandy Point, Treasure Cay and Congo Town in Andros all projected to need a $10m investment. The smaller aviation gateways in the Exuma cays - Staniel Cay, Fowl Cay and Black Point, were each pegged at $2m.

The Government is seeking private partners for the redevelopment, upgrade, financing and management of the 14 selected airports via public-private partnership (PPP) agreements with the winning bidders. They will be granted 30-year PPP leasehold concessions similar to that for LPIA. Shortlisted parties will be invited to participate in the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage, which is tentatively scheduled to be released in May 2023.

Enhancing the Family Island airports will provide for better airlift and transport connectivity, enable these facilities to accommodate increased flights and visitor numbers, and offer an improved first and last impression of The Bahamas for tourists.

Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister, and minister of tourism, investment and aviation, earlier this week admitted that The Bahamas has “gotten caught behind the eight ball” over the need to upgrade its airport infrastructure with discussions now also focusing on expanding the country’s main gateway.

He added that there was renewed focus on how Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) will be able to accommodate the surge in tourist arrivals that The Bahamas is seeing.

Speaking after the Government extended the deadline for initial responses to its $260m, 14-airport, bid process by two weeks to end-April, he said: “We want to ensure the best possible outcomes. And we also want to ensure that we were expediting this process. And, therefore, there is a balance between providing more time and, at the same time, ensuring that we move this along.

“The people of North Eleuthera, for example, have outgrown the airport many, many years ago, perhaps decades ago. So we have, frankly, gotten caught behind the eight ball with airport developments in The Bahamas over the course of the last 20 years. And we have a lot of catching up to do.

“LPIA, for example, even though this has been developed just over the last few years, on Saturday alone, we’re seeing 8,000 to 10,000 visitors come to the airport. And there’s now discussion at the moment as to how we’re going to accommodate the increased level of growth. And therefore we have to be expeditious while we try to create the kind of balance that’s needed.”