PM: I would not have approved Baha Mar
By MEGAN REYNOLDS
Tribune Staff Reporter
mreynolds@tribunemedia.net:
PRIME Minister Hubert Ingraham announced he would not have approved the Baha Mar development under his administration as he hit back at allegations made by Opposition leader Perry Christie.
Speaking at a press conference called at the FNM headquarters in Mackey Street yesterday, Mr Ingraham denied holding any negotiations with developers of the $2.6 billion project agreed to under the PLP administration as he called for the PLP's full support in following it through.
"Had we been involved we would never have agreed to a deal like that for the Bahamas," Mr Ingraham said.
"We didn't cancel it, we didn't stop it, we didn't review it, we told Baha Mar when we came into office we don't like it, but if you are willing to live with what you signed with the PLP government we will accept it. They came forward with changes they wanted and we negotiated changes we wanted. Had we been involved we would never have agreed to a deal like that for the Bahamas."
Once funding from the China Export-Import Bank and employment of the China State Construction Company as general contractor has been approved by the Chinese government Mr Ingraham said major decisions on the employment of nearly 5,000 Chinese workers for the project will be taken to Parliament for a cross-party decision.
He said the work permits for 4,920 Chinese workers to develop the West Bay Street corridor and Baha Mar's commercial village would have to find agreement from the Opposition.
"The government of the Bahamas is committed to ensuring that foreign direct investment in our economy benefits Bahamians," said Mr Ingraham.
"It would be unconscionable for large numbers of foreign workers to be engaged in the Bahamas if large numbers of similarly skilled Bahamians are available to take up those jobs.
"Mr Christie, while certain to seek credit as the 'father' of the Baha Mar Project is already seeking to find shelter from becoming a part of a tough decision on the labour component for the construction of that project.
"I make abundantly clear that my government will not approve any extraordinary foreign labour component for the Baha Mar Project without the support of the Official Opposition.
"We are not going to born this PLP baby by ourselves.
"After all this is a baby conceived by them."
The high number of Chinese workers could translate to as many as two foreign workers for every Bahamian, which Mr Ingraham compared to Kerzner International's Atlantis worksite on Paradise Island where seven out of every ten labourers were Bahamian.
Mr Ingraham also took the opportunity to refute claims Baha Mar's negotiations were stalled under the FNM as he said it was the PLP that delayed progress by not following through with their obligations under the 2005 Heads of Agreement as government-owned lands in West Bay Street were not transferred to Baha Mar under the PLP as they should have been, and the Supplementary Heads of Agreement sought by the PLP government in May 2007 were not concluded before the FNM came to power.
And he said his government "cannot wait forever" for negotiations to conclude as protracted negotiations have stalled plans to divert Gladstone Road as Baha Mar interferes with the New Providence Road Improvement Project.
"Mr Christie has suggested that my government is seeking to keep secret, its negotiations with Baha Mar," Mr Ingraham said.
"No negotiations are taking place between the Bahamas Government and Baha Mar.
"Obviously we cannot be in a state of uncertainty forever so at some stage some decisions have to be made."
Baha Mar spokesman Robert Sands issued a statement following Mr Ingraham's press conference yesterday.
He said: "The size and scope of the Baha Mar project is unprecedented in the Bahamas.
"We are pleased with the consensus in the Bahamas on the desirability of the enormous economic, employment and social benefits it represents.
"We are making excellent progress, and we expect final approval from the Government of the People's Republic of China very shortly.
"Additionally we have already begun the process of bidding out the contraction work with the commercial village and the re-routing of West Bay Street which in itself will create hundreds of jobs for Bahamians.
"It is the first step in the project's creation of approximately 10,000 jobs for Bahamians over the next five years.
"We will continue to work closely with the Bahamian government and look forward to receiving the necessary approvals so we can begin work as quickly as possible."
Mr Ingraham agreed the Bahamas needs a major project and clarified the country currently only has the manpower and infrastructure to carry out one major project at a time, be it Baha Mar or Atlantis phase four.
"At the same time we can't have both; not simultaneously," he said.
June 14, 2010
tribune242
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