The Tribune

By Paul Mellor

Grand Bahama was built for a quarter-of-a-million people. Today, it has fewer than 47,000. Our population fell from 51,368 in 2010 to 46,740 in 2022. Stopover visitors fell from 587,250 in 1995 to about 101,000 last year. One home in five stands empty.

On October 21, Prime Minister Philip Davis KC announced that the present way of governing Freeport will end, and published the Government’s ‘Green Paper’ entitled ‘Grand Bahama: A framework for stability and growth’. Public consultation opened on November 1, 2026, and runs to 30 April 2027. Whether Grand Bahama changes is now settled. How it changes is up to all of us.

I have prepared a full framework, ‘Freeport Transformation’, as a submission to that consultation. It draws on the best of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement and on what has worked in Singapore, Dubai, Ireland, Shenzhen, Cayman, Bermuda, Mauritius and Estonia. Its central idea is simple: Grand Bahama should be the easiest and cheapest place in the region to start a business, hire the right people and settle, and government should earn its return from the growth that follows, not from fees charged at the door.

Keep what worked, change what didn’t

The Hawksbill Creek Agreement turned scrubland into our second city because its economics were right: Duty-free business inputs, no property or capital gains tax for business licensees, and a long-term promise investors could bank on. Those promises should carry forward, island-wide, with a 25-year guarantee written into law. No existing licensee should lose a right it holds today.

What should change is the governance. Licensing, planning and building approvals should move from a private company to one accountable public body, a Grand Bahama Economic Authority, with one application, one window and one decision. If government misses its deadline, the application is approved. The Grand Bahama Port Authority keeps its land and investments, and becomes what Grand Bahama needs most: Its largest developer and partner.

Low fees, growth pays

Government is already a 10 percent partner in almost every sale made in The Bahamas through VAT, which raised about $1.1bn in the first nine months of 2025-2026 - more than any other tax. Every business blocked by red tape, high fees or a slow work permit is a partner government never gets.

So the framework proposes a business licence for a flat few hundred dollars, issued in days; published, fixed fees; and no new taxes on investment. Government’s return comes from VAT on a growing economy.

It is fair to ask whether that adds up. I built a ten-year financial model to test it, counting every fee and duty given up against the VAT and fees gained. On cautious base-case assumptions, government comes out about $51m ahead over ten years, gains more than it gives up every year from 2031, and earns about $17m a year more by 2037, with some 6,000 new jobs. The model leaves out gains that are real but hard to count, such as real property tax on new homes and spending by visiting families. I would welcome the Ministry of Finance testing it with its own figures.

Open the door, and train Bahamians through it

Grand Bahama needs people more than anything else. The framework proposes a Grand Bahama Special Immigration Zone, separate from national policy and run as a three-year pilot, so that anyone bringing a business, an idea, an investment or a retirement income can settle with as little contact with government as possible. One online application covers residency, work rights and family, with fixed deadlines: Ten working days for a specialist work permit. Security and source-of-funds checks stay in place for every applicant.

Openness must benefit Bahamians, or it will not last. Every role is advertised to Bahamians first, every specialist permit carries a Bahamian trainee or a training contribution and, in an economic downtur, permit holders go before Bahamians.

We have too few places to eat, and almost all serve the same cuisine. Visitors and new residents expect Italian, Japanese, French, steakhouses and fine dining, too. The framework opens every full-service restaurant to foreign owners, with one licence in 30 days, liquor pre-approved in dining districts such as Port Lucaya and the International Bazaar, and permits for up to six of the owner’s own chefs and staff, each foreign chef training a Bahamian apprentice. Small trades such as taxis, straw vendors and tour excursions stay reserved for Bahamians.

Grand Bahama Shipyard has invested about $600m in new dry docks and repaired 28 ships this year. Its biggest problem is bringing in certified welders, fitters and riggers fast enough. Safety on a cruise ship worth hundreds of millions of dollars must come first. A Skilled Trades Track would let approved yards hire any certified tradesperson, decided in five working days, for a flat $3,000 a year instead of today’s $6,000 or more. The fee is halved if the worker trains one Bahamian apprentice, and waived if they train two. The fees fund a new Bahamian Institute of Technology, so the best tradespeople in the world leave behind a generation of certified Bahamians.

A home for health care and for retirees

We are a short flight from millions of Americans who pay some of the highest medical prices in the world. A Grand Bahama Health Zone, anchored by the new Freeport Health Campus, could offer US-standard surgery at half the US price or less. Doctors certified in the US, United Kingdom, Canada or Australia would be licensed here without re-examination; every facility would need international accreditation; and medical equipment would come in duty-free. Each foreign specialist would mentor Bahamian doctors and nurses, and a share of capacity would be kept for Bahamian patients at local rates. Bahamians spend an estimated $400m a year on care abroad; some of that should stay home.

Retirees are the Health Zone’s natural neighbours. They bring a steady income, buy and live in homes, and would spend every week of the year at our grocery stores, restaurants and businesses, while their families visit and fill our hotels. A Retirement and Longevity Programme would offer ten-year residency on a retirement income or a home purchase, decided in 20 working days, with 50 percent off the VAT on a home and 50 percent off the duty on household goods and a car. Purpose-built Longevity Villages would let retirees move from independent living to full care on one campus, at prices well below the US, staffed by nurses and carers trained here.

Easy to reach, by air and by sea

None of this works if people cannot get to Grand Bahama every day of the year. The framework proposes a Route Development Fund shared by government and the businesses that benefit, landing fees waived for new routes, incentives for daily flights even in hurricane season, US pre-clearance from the day the new Grand Bahama International Airport terminal opens, and a daily fast ferry from South Florida. Any support for an airline would be capped and tied to seats actually sold.

We are also the first Bahamian landfall for boats from Florida, yet recent taxes and fees have pushed yachts elsewhere. A Grand Bahama Yacht Zone would offer one simple, low-cost cruising permit; a trial of lower charter taxes; duty-free fuel for visiting yachts and a super yacht refit cluster built on the Sshipyard’s skills, with charters still arranged through licensed Bahamian operators.

Bahamians as owners, and coming home

Thousands of Grand Bahamians left after the hurricanes and the hotel closures. The cheapest way to grow the island is to bring them back. A Homecoming Programme would raise the duty-free allowance for returning residents who settle here to $25,000 on household goods, and $40,000 on a vehicle; offer VAT relief and a mortgage guarantee on a first home; recognise qualifications earned abroad; and require employers to look at returning Bahamians before filing for work permits.

Jobs matter, but lasting wealth comes from ownership. A Grand Bahama Opportunity Fund, paid for by a share of the island’s VAT revenue growth, would offer Bahamian businesses real loans and equity - not just small grants. Large investors would publish how much they buy from Bahamian firms, big developments would offer a share to Bahamian investors and pension funds, and foreign investors who take a Bahamian partner would get faster approvals and lower fees. If Grand Bahama grows, Bahamians should own a share of it.

Accountable, and starting on day one

Every promise in this framework comes with a public number. The Economic Authority would publish a scorecard every quarter: Days to a licence, days to a work permit, new businesses, VAT collected in Grand Bahama, Bahamians employed and trained, and our population. The goal is to return to our 2010 population by the next census.

We do not have to wait for new laws in 2028 to begin. Cabinet could adopt the principle of low fees and growth-funded revenue tomorrow, open an interim investment desk in Freeport with officers from every ministry, publish a fee schedule and decision deadlines, and promise every existing licensee that their rights continue unchanged.

Grand Bahama already has the harbour, the Shipyard, the airport, the land and a location most islands would envy. What it has lacked is a set of rules that makes it easy to come, build and stay. We now have six months to write them together. I hope every Grand Bahamian will take part.

NB: Paul Mellor is a Grand Bahamian businessman and vice-president of Executive Marine Management, a marine services company based in Freeport.