PLP rejects loan resolution
By KRYSTEL ROLLE
Guardian Staff Reporter
krystel@nasguard.com:
The opposition last night rejected a resolution to borrow nearly $58 million from a Chinese bank to construct a new highway, saying the loan requirement to bring in 200 Chinese workers to build a road is something the Progressive Liberal Party cannot accept.
Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing moved the resolution yesterday in the House of Assembly to borrow $57,999,966 from the Export-Import Bank of China for the development of the airport road project.
He said the nature of the China capital export policy provides for the inclusion of Chinese labor and material. Approximately 120 Bahamians will be engaged for the project.
PLP Leader Perry Christie said given the extraordinarily hard times, it is unacceptable for the government to approve a public project that would require it to hire twice as many foreigners as Bahamians.
"Is there something in this four-lane highway that the Bahamians cannot do?Is there some component?"Christie asked.
Pointing to the Tonique Williams-Darling Highway, the opposition leader said Bahamians have demonstrated in the past their ability to build roads.
The plans include the realignment of the existing John F. Kennedy Drive to create a four-lane highway from Windsor Field Road to the new six-legged roundabout.
"We gave them the work, they did a splendid job on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway,"Christie said of the Bahamian contractors.
"They did the work and they were Bahamian. So the question for me is whether or not the government considered the option of giving the Bahamians the work even though the[overall cost]of the work would have been higher."
He said at the end of the day more Bahamians would have jobs and as a result it would have a greater impact on the economy.
"This is not a private sector project like Baha Mar where the development would not take place[unless the foreign labor component is extended],"Christie said."This is a public sector project where the Government of The Bahamas has control."
Laing pointed to the low interest rate on the loan, which he said will save the government substantial sums of money.
He said the interest rate attached to the Chinese loan is two percent compared to the seven percent minimum that the government would have gotten on the open market.
Laing said if the government were to accept a loan with a seven percent interest rate, the government would have to pay $43 million in interest alone. By comparison the Chinese loan would attract $10.7 in interest.
But Christie said the government made the"wrong decision".
"We have given close consideration to this resolution. We understand the dynamics. We feel that the best decision would have been to have Bahamian contractors to build and we also believe that the economy would be impacted greater than the impact it would have with the Chinese,"Christie said.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham pointed out that under the Christie administration 60 work permits were granted to Chinese to assist with the construction of T.G. Glover Primary School.
However, Christie said the circumstances were vastly different.
For example, he said the economy at that time was growing and the unemployment level was nowhere near where it is now.
"At the same time, we had a sector where construction jobs, where a contractor, had the right to make a case to the immigration department for work permits, and at a time when jobs were not the question,"he said.
"At the time the immigration department gave work permits to a Bahamian contractor to help with construction but today the government has total control over the work that is being done. The Bahamas government is issuing the work itself."
9/23/2010
thenassauguardian
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