Call for more industry input in Baha Mar negotiations
NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net
IT IS time for industry involvement in the Baha Mar negotiations, according to the Bahamas Contractors Association.
Since the BCA submitted its position paper to the government in August it has received no response. Association president Stephen Wrinkle said "it seems to be the typical way of doing business" that industry stakeholders are not consulted.
Mr Wrinkle's comments came in the wake of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham making his strongest personal statements yet on the Baha Mar issue.
Now that the financial hurdles have been overcome, Mr Wrinkle said he hopes the major stakeholders - Baha Mar, government and industry - will be brought together to iron out the remaining kinks.
"I would have thought more industry consultation would have taken place. They certainly have access to people in the industry through the Ministry of Works, but then again that is a government ministry," said Mr Wrinkle.
"We met with the opposition party and their caucus; we briefed them on our position paper and had discussions. We have met with Baha Mar and had discussions with them, but we have had absolutely no response from the government. I couldn't elaborate any further on what their position is because we don't know," he said.
Last week Mr Ingraham suggested Baha Mar may have to review the labour component of its proposal as well as plans for a "single-phased development" in order to satisfy the government's concerns.
One of the main concerns of industry, according to Mr Wrinkle, is the involvement of Bahamian contractors and the transfer of knowledge.
"These big international contracts are extremely difficult to micro-manage at a small level. It will take additional resources on their part to include more Bahamian contractors. It will take more oversight, more management, more participation from the project management team. We understand that," said Mr Wrinkle.
"I think there are concessions that have been given and others that are available to offset this added expense. The tradeoff is well worth it," he said.
On the matter of transferring knowledge, Mr Wrinkle said foreign contractors are not interested in transferring knowledge at the level of labour.
If the focus is only on supplying labour, he said, there would likely be little transfer of knowledge.
"How do you transfer knowledge on how to drive a shovel? That is nothing. We don't need that type of transfer of knowledge. We need to capitalise on techniques and technologies that are unavailable to us on the local market.
"There is not transfer at knowledge at the labour level. It is the duty of the government, the responsibility of government to put in place measures to ensure participation of the local industry. We cannot do it on our own," he said.
So far, Baha Mar has been responsive to the concerns of industry representatives, according to Mr Wrinkle.
However, there are currently no pledges on the table for money to be allocated for training and no stipulations requiring Baha Mar to integrate Bahamian contractors and their crews into the Baha Mar project.
October 09, 2010
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