Sir Baltron Bethel: The Baha Mar project is one of the pillars for the continued expansion and development of the tourism industry

SIR BALTRON BIG ON BAH MAR
By CANDIA DAMES
Guardian News Editor
candia@nasguard.com:



The planned transfer of more than 264 acres of publicly-owned land to the Baha Mar developers would be justified given the tremendous benefits the project would provide for the country, according to Sir Baltron Bethel, who was the chief negotiator for the deal under the Christie government.

"I think that both the original agreement and the supplemental agreement were fair agreements, having been involved with those,"said Sir Baltron, who spoke after he was approached by The Nassau Guardian for an interview yesterday.

"I say that because of what the project is all about. The project is one of the pillars for the continued expansion and development of the tourism industry.

"The Cable Beach resort area is tired and in order to put it right it needed a vision, a plan. Now it could be argued that this project could have been approached in phases, however, the developers'concept was to do the project all one time."

Sir Baltron served as managing director of the Hotel Corporation and also investments and tourism development consultant for the government. He spent many hours helping to arrive at a deal that former Prime Minister Perry Christie had repeatedly said would be transformational.

Unlike Kerzner International's Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, the Baha Mar project would not be developed in separate phases, Sir Baltron pointed out yesterday.

He noted that the thinking was that Baha Mar would complement Atlantis, and would occur simultaneously with the redevelopment of Lynden Pindling International Airport.

Sir Baltron indicated that when the original deal was being negotiated government negotiators looked closely at all issues surrounding the Cable Beach deal, including the controversial land issue.

"For purposes of finance the developer was unable to obtain financing without there being some provision for the freehold transfer(of publicly-owned land)so that has been the long and short of it and the current arrangement with the Chinese, as I understand it, is contingent upon the freehold being conveyed to the developer."

When he brought a resolution to the House of Assembly on the Baha Mar project on Wednesday, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who is also the minister responsible for lands, said approval for the Baha Mar project requires the transfer of 264.965 acres of publicly-owned land.

Among other properties, this would include the land on which the Wyndham Resort and casino sit; the Nassau Beach Resort; the Hobby Horse Hall parcel; Fidelity Bank; the Cecil Wallace-Whifield Centre; the Cable Beach Police Station and 50 acres on Gladstone Road.

Because of the conditions precedent set by Baha Mar's financiers--The Export-Import Bank of China and the China State Construction Engineering Corporation--these lands are required to be transfered in advance of the start of construction of the project.

"It is the position of my government that these lands will only be transferred for the expressed purpose of facilitating the development and that should the development not proceed the land must return to the government,"said Ingraham, who inherited the Baha Mar deal from the previous administration.

He has termed Baha Mar" a PLP baby "and on Wednesday outlined the requirements, consequences and benefits related to the deal.

Sir Baltron said the Baha Mar agreement must be looked at in the context of today's economic environment.

"The developer has secured the financing. There are very few projects anywhere in the world where financing to the tune of$2.5 billion is available for a tourism project in a developing country," he said.

"I think we have to weigh all of these things; your outlook with regard to how public lands should be transfered and the other demands which are being made in light of prevailing circumstances.

"So the arrangements that are now being proposed represent the best possible arrangements that the developers could secure and certainly it's a feather in the cap of the developer to have obtained such a gigantic amount of funding at the present time."

The Central Bank reported last week in its latest economic report that the outlook for 2011 is less favorable than originally forecast.

"However, upside benefits could accrue to the economy, if the proposed large-scale hotel investment projects gain traction in the coming months,"the Central Bank said.

There is a great deal riding on Baha Mar because of its promise of job creation--even with the 8,150 work permits factored in--and economic spinoffs.

Sir Baltron said given the current depressed climate, Baha Mar would provide"the push that we need".

"If the project gets off the ground it would not only be good for the Baha Mar project and for the economy of New Providence, but it can also be that which could jumpstart other smaller projects," said Sir Baltron, who currently serves as president of the Bahamas Baptist Community College.

These days he is an independent observer as it relates to Baha Mar, he noted.

Speaking of the project, he added,"It would be a good thing from where I sit as president of the Community College in terms of providing jobs and also of being able to continue to provide the kind of services that a growing college like this needs to provide, and we can only do that if the economy is growing."

When Sir Baltron helped negotiate the deal, the Chinese element was not yet a factor.

Asked yesterday what his thoughts are on the extraordinary work permit request, he said,"We all know with Chinese funding there comes the demand for use of a significant amount of Chinese labor, more than would be the norm, but the Chinese have also financed a project for more than the norm. It would be the largest touristic project ever financed in one shot in The Bahamas."

He added,"It's very important to see this project go forward. The government has invested a huge amount of money in the airport. We're going to have the finest airport in all of the Caribbean and the return on that depends upon its utilization which included the Baha Mar project coming to fruition."

9/10/2010

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