The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE Davis administration should address concerns of Port Lucaya Marketplace straw vendors, the Opposition’s finance spokesman said yesterday.

Saying the straw vendors are in a “desperate situation”, Mr Thompson took the opportunity during Parliament to spotlight the dire economic challenges vendors in Grand Bahama face.

“We attended the Port Lucaya Marketplace, and the concerns that was raised by a number of the straw vendors, they are in a desperate situation,” said Mr Thompson.

“We again raise those concerns on behalf of the straw vendors in Port Lucaya. They again have... a very serious situation. And so, we want to raise those concerns on behalf of those straw vendors again.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell said the government is aware of the challenges and is making efforts to adjust the bus routes but placed the blame of the marketplace’s poor condition squarely on its owner’s shoulders.

The former Christie administration announced in 2015 that UK investor Peter Hunt had acquired the Port Lucaya Marketplace from the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) Bourbon Street Ltd affiliate for $5.5m.

Mr Mitchell said vendors have complained about the “aggressive nature” of the owners who have allowed the premises to deteriorate.

“The government is fully aware of the issues related to the straw market in Grand Bahama. I’ve had talks over the Christmas holidays of the same nature. What I had said to my colleagues there is, one of the complaints is the beach access and where the bus drops off people and whether there can be some adjustment of the way the bussing takes place, and people who come into the operation. So I passed on those complaints, and I’m sure that the Minister of Tourism and the appropriate officials having a look at it,” said Mr Mitchell.

“What I was concerned about when I went there is the complaint that they said that the aggressive nature of the people who own and operate Port Lucaya, and I was actually shocked at the condition of the place that they’ve now got these lines saying, ‘Do not cross’ because the railings are about to fall into the ocean.”

Mr Mitchell said the owners, who promised the marketplace would “undergo significant upgrades, creating additional jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities” when the property was purchased, have been derelict in their maintenance and investment obligations and are only “rent collectors”.

“When I was Immigration Minister, the people who are now the owners of the port came to us, and one of the approaches they made was they were going to be putting all kinds of investment in Port Lucaya and this was going to be the next thing sliced bread. And there is no evidence that they’ve carried out their obligations. That’s the problem,” said Mr Mitchell.

“No investment in the place, and they have become rent collectors. That’s what the straw market vendor said. And there’s no maintenance of the place, and it’s just become, you know, it’s just extracting profits. And of course, this comes back to those who run the city, and what their responsibility is to ensure that those things are corrected.”

Vendors at Port Lucaya Marketplace have said the closure of the Grand Lucayan Resort, with only Lighthouse Point remaining operational, has left them grappling with dire economic challenges.

They also highlighted concerns over management’s lack of promotion for the marketplace and described the attraction as a “ghost town”.