The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A RIVAL Bahamian group is arguing that the 25-slip marina proposed for a Nassau harbourfront site just west of Potter’s Cay dock should be rejected because it does not represent the most valuable or strategic use of that location.

Franklyn Robinson, president of LanQi Global Development Company, told Tribune Business that the planned Blu Cay Marina - for which a public consultation was held last week - should not be allowed to “supersede” his group’s vision for the same site which involves completely reimagining Potter’s Cay to separate the ‘fish dry’ element from mail boat shipping through reclaiming and repurposing land between the two Paradise Island bridges.

While the ‘fish fry’ would be moved east to by the Sir Sidney Poitier ‘on’ bridge, together with a 700-space visitor parking lot, the mail boat and Family Island shipping, cargo and logistics business - according to renderings produced by Mr Robinson and his group - would remain on the western side totally segregated from all other activities. Some 700 feet of dock space would be available to accommodate eight mail boats, each 40 foot wide and 220 feet long, at the same time.

Mr Robinson told this newspaper that the group’s reimagining of Potter’s Cay, which would also involve the removal of the existing Water & Sewerage Corporation assets on East Bay Street, was part of a larger $1.6bn package to revive downtown Nassau and Bay Street - details of which he did not disclose. He also asserted that the number of jobs that would be created would “probably be as much as Atlantis and Baha Mar combined” - a figure that would exceed 11,000.

However, Mr Robinson and his group have yet to secure financiers and lenders to back their project in an effort that has now stretched into its third year. Until that occus, they will not be entertained by the Government, and he said they have altered strategy to break the $1.6bn down into more manageable chunks.

“If you look at what the ro-ro (roll on/roll off shipping) guys have to take on their vessels, the proper facilities for that are not there,” Mr Robinson said of Potter’s Cay’s current conditions for mail boat shipping. “If you pass there when they are busy, you have up to 14-15 ro-ro vessels with their ramps extended down.

“Potter’s Cay’s expansion should have been something already on the table. I don’t see how Blu Cay Marina’s development can come in and supersede any further development of Potter’s Caty. I don’t understand that. There should have been plans in place for Potter’s Cay’s expansion 40-50 years ago. Part of our plan is to move the public away from that [shipping] traffic on the other side to proper parking and bathroom facilities.”

Mr Robinson, though, said the Government’s message to his group has been “find the funder and then come and talk to us”. He admitted: “That hasn’t happened yet. We haven’t officially approached the Government on it. The Government has said to everybody: ‘Don’t come to us unless you have the funding partner lined up’.

“We’ve spent the last two years trying to do that, and it’s been a real challenge finding someone to bite on that. It’s a $1.6bn project. Our objection [to Blu Cay Marina] is our proposal offers a number of upgrades to infrastructure, particularly infrastructure dealing with the floodwater issue.”

Asked about the prospects of raising such a huge sum, Mr Robinson replied: “We have agents all over the world in Dubai, Canada, the US. There was a group interested here but we fell out with them. It was not in the terms we were looking for. Our role in the development is governance and origination. People want to come in and change the concept.”

Suggesting the Middle East conflict may create fresh financing opportunities, he added: “We have been talking with people directly in the past few months. Interest has increased. Every day we have a meeting. We had a meeting this morning with a group. We’ve had a substantial uptick in interest in the past few weeks from Middle Eastern entities and American entities.

“It’s been three years now. The figure is $1.6bn. What we’ve done is to change strategy on how we approach the funding. We’ve broken it down to $700m in capital and will do the balance in debt. That’s been the advice we’ve received before. But the reality is it looks like we have to do it. We have to split it. The $700m may be an easier figure for four to five different entities, and the second phase we will have to finance. By then we should have some pre-sales, so should have some additional equity in the project by then.”

Mr Robinson, in the group’s objection to Blu Cay Marina receiving the necessary permits, wrote that their proposal is “the more appropriate strategic use of the affected waterfront: An integrated expansion of Potter’s Cay’s freight, ro-ro, Family Island logistics, native food market and public waterfront functions”.

He added: “Potter’s Cay is not merely a restaurant and vending location. It is an essential national transportation and supply facility connecting New Providence with the Family Islands.

Evidence presented during public discussion confirms that the existing facility is operating under severe pressure. Freight vehicles, private cars, vendors, pedestrians, passengers and marine operations compete within a confined and increasingly dysfunctional space.

“The Family Island economy is not static. As population, tourism, construction and commerce expand across the Family Islands, the movement of freight, food, building materials, equipment and household goods through Nassau must also expand. Potter’s Cay has not been comprehensively enlarged or reorganised to meet that growth,” Mr Robinson continued.

“The adjoining waterfront should therefore be regarded as part of the strategic expansion area of Potter’s Cay, not as an isolated parcel available for an unrelated recreational marina…. Approval would risk fragmenting land that should be planned as one operational district.

“The opportunity cost must be assessed. Once the property is developed, leased and operational, recovering it for Potter’s Cay’s future expansion may become legally difficult, financially expensive or practically impossible.”

Turning to his group’s alternative plan, which has yet to secure the necessary financing, Mr Robinson said: “The Charles Towne plan establishes a secure fence and operational buffer separating the logistics yard from the public fish fry and market areas. This addresses one of Potter’s Cay’s most serious existing problems - the unsafe and inefficient mixing of trucks, freight, pedestrians, vendors, diners and private vehicles.

“The public portion retains Potter’s Cay’s Bahamian identity and upgrades it. The objective is not to remove Potter’s Cay vendors. It is to provide them with infrastructure, dignity, sanitation, commercial opportunity and an improved public environment.

“The plan includes a 700-space public parking area supporting the Native Market and Fish Fry, together with controlled pedestrian and vehicular access. This is materially different from inserting a small marina whose patrons may compete with existing users for already inadequate parking.”

As a result, Mr Robinson told the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) and other government regulators: “Potter’s Cay has outgrown the physical and operational conditions under which it is presently required to function. It requires more space, not less.

“It requires expanded freight berths, loading areas, truck staging, Customs facilities, parking, sanitation, public amenities and organised access. It requires a master plan capable of serving an expanding Family Island economy for the next generation.

“The land adjoining Potter’s Cay should therefore not be considered merely as a disturbed waterfront site available for another private marina. It must be understood as part of the strategic expansion area of a nationally-important working waterfront. The Government must first determine whether approving Blu Cay would obstruct a more important national use. In my opinion, it would.”