The Tribune

By Malcolm Strachan

IF THE government’s trip to Grand Bahama last week was meant to be a statement of intent, then it blew its lines badly.

Grand Bahama is perhaps our nation’s biggest missed opportunity. Time and again, we talk of the days of it being the “Magic City,” as if it can ever be that again. Deal announcements come, deal announcements go, and yet here we are, still talking about potential rather than achievement.

There were four major areas that Prime Minister Davis focused on in his announcements for Grand Bahama. These were: progress at the airport, an update on the Grand Lucayan Resort, an announcement of an agreement to potentially buy Grand Bahama Power Company, and a new cruise ship pier complex in development from MSC.

Let’s start with the good news – the MSC development seems to fall squarely in that category. It will be a $450m investment, with $400m for the Billy Cay port and $50m for a beach club and to freshen up the retail village that is there at the moment. Straight up, that should be good news all around. MSC is a solid partner, so there should be no doubts that it will happen, and the port will hopefully bring more visitors and more opportunities for businesses in GB.

Everything else that was announced had more of a question mark over it.

Next up was the news of the airport development work finally getting started. Mr Davis said phase one of the redevelopment work was under way, at a cost of $100m. However, the FNM was quick to point out a lack of actual action on the ground yet, and the fact that it had been promised the airport would be open by April last year.

Mr Davis also said that environmental impact assessments, geotechnical studies and flood mitigation surveys were currently being finalised – which begs the question how work can be going ahead when the studies and surveys are still being finished.

If part of the reason for this spate of announcements was political – and there’s always a political element, but even more so in the countdown to an election – then the FNM response was equally political. However, party leader Michael Pintard had a point when he said: “A speech is not progress. A press event is not progress. A cabinet trip alone is not progress. Progress is jobs. Progress is investment you can see and feel.”

Pintard also questioned who will manage the airport – the kind of information that ought to be confirmed by the time construction is starting – and the exact scale of the new development. Fair questions.

For the Grand Lucayan resort, there was barely any announcement at all. After it was reported that staff had been sent home without pay, there was an urgent need for the government to say something about the state of the deal that was announced with a big event last May.

The deal with Concord Wilshire was supposed to be the resolution to the Grand Lucayan problem, and to be the rocket fuel for Grand Bahama’s lift-off. Instead, it has all gone quiet. There have been questions about pay and NIB contributions, and worries that this deal is going to run out of steam the way the last one did.

Mr Davis’s announcement last week pretty much amounted to “trust me, bro”, as he said that progress continues. Whereas not too long ago everything was “all systems go,” and now he was saying it was a “complex” transaction apparently requiring careful sequencing and approvals. Hurdles appear to be in place now where once it appeared to be a smooth run forward.

No timeline has been given as to when and how these sequences will play out. Last month, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s annual general meeting was told that Concord Wilshire was “eager to begin construction” and permits and approvals were expected to allow construction during the first quarter of this year. That timeline does not seem so clear now.

The announcement that got the most attention though was the one that does not seem to be agreed at all.

Mr Davis announced that a memorandum of understanding had been signed with Emera, the company that owns Grand Bahama Power Company, over a possible purchase, with the purchase due to close in 60-90 days.

Except Emera quickly responded that there is no final agreement yet. Caribbean chief operating officer Dave McGregor issued a letter to staff saying there is a “possible option” for a purchase, but that is a long way short from completing a deal in the next three months.

Then the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce raised its own warnings, with chamber president Dillon Knowles saying he doubted they “have the ability to make the acquisition.”

Pastor Eddie Victor, at the Coalition of Concerned Citizens, has long criticised Grand Bahama Power Company, but even he was warning that it might not be a great idea, saying the government “doesn’t have a good track record” when it comes to operating electrical utilities.

But the government does not seem to be backing down, pushing back against the chamber’s criticisms.

From four announcements, only one was a solid success, it seems. The rest? One overdue, one unknown, one outright overstating what had been done.

Is the need to be seen to be doing something so important? Is there such a need to get ahead of the story that it means announcing things before they were agreed.

The GB Power announcement was quickly described as a political stunt, and that is what it looked to be. Why put your partner in the supposed agreement in an awkward place by announcing it before it was finalised?

There are also suggestions going around that this is in some way an attempt to put leverage on the Grand Bahama Port Authority in its ongoing dispute with the government. But with things looking all over the place, that just feels like an attempt to figure out some kind of reason from the mess. If this was an attempt to show Grand Bahama how serious the government is and why people there should vote this administration back in, it didn’t work.

As Mr Pintard said, people need to “see and feel” it. On this one, he’s not wrong.