Rum Cay feud reignites
A long-running Rum Cay feud has suddenly reignited to endanger the multi-million dollar sale of one of the island’s most valuable and important economic assets.
FOCOL chairman: BISX ‘deficient’ and needs change
FOCOL Holdings chairman yesterday asserted that the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) is “very deficient” and “needs change” if it is to attract more major initial public offerings (IPOs) and fulfill the original vision for the country’s first-ever stock market.
Super Value chief warns of food price increases
Super Value’s president is warning of potential food price increases, and a barrier to pay rises for hundreds of staff, due to the supermarket chain having to absorb “over $1m” in extra annual costs from the Government’s VAT exempt treatment of uncooked foods.
Sands calls for probe into $34m PPP deal’s ‘drug suspect’ link
The Opposition’s chairman yesterday called for an “immediate” probe into the $34m Eight Mile Rock administration complex deal after it was revealed the contractor appeared to have ties to a drug-accused air crash victim when the contract was signed in 2017.
Legal challenge stalls Marsh Harbour land ownership resolution
The Government’s plans to regularise land ownership for scores of downtown Marsh Harbour residents and businesses have stalled after descendants of the original Crown Land grantee to the 242-acre ‘Key tract’ launched a legal challenge to the property’s compulsory acquisition.
Turtlegrass resort forced to terminate over 50 staff
A key opponent of the $200m Rosewood Exuma project yesterday revealed it has been forced to terminate 53 staff amid its own planning approvals dispute with the Government as impacted workers pledged to “go to Rawson Square and fight for our jobs”.
$700m Freeport project promises 550-room Hilton
A 550-room Hilton branded resort will form the core of the Grand Lucayan resort’s $700m redevelopment, it was revealed yesterday, amid assertions the project will transform Freeport into a “tourist mecca” to complement “the mega cruise port of the Caribbean”.
Govt fails to escape $25m bond default suit
The Government has failed to extract itself from a furious legal battle sparked by accusations that its failure to make due rental payments on the Eight Mile Rock administrative complex has caused one of its first-ever public-private partnership (PPP) deals to default on a $25m bond.
MSC’s Lucayan deal ‘is going to save Freeport’
Grand Bahama tourism operators yesterday hailed Mediterranean Shipping Company’s (MSC) role in the Grand Lucayan’s transformation as a deal that is “going to save Freeport” with the revamped property’s two ‘cruise resorts’ forecast to attract more than one million visitors annually.
Boating fee reforms ‘might save summer’
The Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president is asserting that long-awaited boating fee reforms “might just save our summer season” after the Government delivered on the Prime Minister’s end-February pledge to create two new cruising permit fee categories with reduced levies.
Boating fee reforms ‘like a present for Christmas’
A marina operator yesterday hailed the Government’s boating fee reforms as being “like a Christmas present” that will generate renewed optimism for an industry grappling with uncertainty and reduced business volumes.
BACSWN executive named as the ambassador to ICAO
The chief operating officer at Bahamas Aviation, Climate & Severe Weather Network (BACSWN), Michael Strachan, has been appointed Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a United Nations agency which helps 193 counties operate together and share their skies to their mutual benefit.
Easter bun sales up 50% amid VAT, fuel concerns
Bahamian bakeries yesterday said they still fear an increase in their input costs from food stores increasing prices due to the VAT elimination on uncooked foods being treated as ‘exempt’ rather than ‘zero rated’.
We cannot afford lax cyber security
When most small and medium-sized businesses think about cyber security, they think about firewalls, passwords and perhaps an anti-virus subscription that renews each year. It often feels technical, distant, even optional. Until it is not.
