05142024 BUSINESS

A “QUICK one-stop solution” for The Bahamas’ energy crisis was yesterday re-floated by a local attorney who argued it could resolve cost, reliability and environmental woes “within months”. John Bostwick II, who acted as legal adviser to the group that

first proposed the Floating Power Plant plan in 2012, advocated to Tribune Business that the Davis administration should “aggressively” pursue an initiative he presented to both its Christie and Minnis predecessors given Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) “dire” state.

A FORMER health minister yesterday blasted the proposed $290m new hospital as “an absolutely insane idea” and challenged why the cost has risen more than five-fold under the Davis administration.

Dr Duane Sands, who held that Cabinet post under the former Minnis administration, told Tribune Business he fears the Government is “about to waste tens of millions of dollars of the Bahamian people’s money” already sunk into upgrading the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) with its plans to construct a second such facility in the Perpall Tract area.

Asserting that he cannot see “the necessity or rationale” for another New Providence public hospital, he contrasted the near-$290m price tag with the $55m cost estimate publicly unveiled by his immediate successor,

Confirming that the proposal would still involve mooring bargebased power plants in calmer waters at Arawak Cay, he added that this could make between

300-450 Mega Watts (MW) of generation capacity available for New Providence alone within 120 days of the Government agreeing to the solution.

Mr Bostwick told this newspaper that these Floating Power Plants would employ solely cleanburning fuels, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), to alleviate environmental concerns, while the proposal submitted to previous administrations offered to

Renward Wells, for a similar facility at the PMH site.

Mr Wells, during the 2021-2022 Budget debate, said the then-Minnis administration planned to invest some $55m to construct a six-storey tower at PMH’s downtown campus that would house several medical units including a new children’s ward, surgical ward, maternal care and gynaecology ward.

That plan has seemingly been abandoned, with Dr Michael

North Eleuthera hit by 34-hour BPL outage

By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business

Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Power & Light (BPL)

finally restored service to North Eleuthera last night after the area suffered a more than 34-hour power outage due to generation failures at the Hatchet Bay Power Station.

The state-owned utility, in a statement, said technicians were able to restore electricity supply at 9:22 pm last night. It explained that the problems, which began around 11am on Sunday, were due to a “switchgear failure” at Hatchet Bay Power Station that required a “highly complex” repair.

“BPL sincerely apologises to our North Eleuthera customers who were without power for more than 30 hours following a major system failure at the Hatchet Bay Power Station,” BPL said. “The extended outage was caused by a switchgear failure that required a highly complex operation, including cabling and reconfiguration, to distribute power from the Hatchet Bay Power Station.

“Sunday’s system failure and the subsequent challenges are an extraordinary circumstance as the company remains committed to providing safe and reliable power across the entire country.” The outage was initially island-wide but, while power was restored to South Eleuthera, technicians discovered “major switch gear damage”

supply electricity to BPL’s grid via a power purchase agreement (PPA) priced as low as 12 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh).

That would represent a significant reduction to the BPL bills faced by businesses and households. While the Government appears to be headed in a different direction, likely to involve splitting the state-owned utility into separate generation, transmission and distribution and customer service/billing units by bringing in private capital and expertise via private-public partnerships (PPP), Mr Bostwick said his offer still merited serious consideration.

Noting that the generation capacity involved would match the 400 MW cited by Ryan Pinder,

Darville, minister of health and wellness, confirming to this newspaper that the planned Perpall Tract hospital will house many of the units eyed for that six-storey tower - maternal, childcare and adolescent health, together with the blood bank, “hub for tele-medicine” and unit for

(URCA) review of fixed Internet, pay-TV and voice services, argued that increased competition and reduced barriers to market entry mean it should no longer be designated as having significant market power (SMP) or subjected to more stringent regulation.

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

CABLE Bahamas has hit back by arguing that this nation has “among the lowest and most affordable” entry-level broadband Internet prices in the Caribbean to help make its case for easing regulation. The BISX-listed communications provider, in its response to the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s

Drawing on the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) benchmarking of entrylevel broadband Internet prices for the Caribbean, which shows The Bahamas as having the fifth cheapest cost in the region for 5 Gbps (gigabytes) speed behind Puerto Rico, St Maarten, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, Cable Bahamas argued that consumer protection concerns are better addressed via universal service mandates.

the Attorney General, as needing replacement by BPL within the next five years, he added that the Floating Power Plant deal could be structured as a shortterm arrangement that would give the Government flexibility and breathing space while it works out how to address the utility’s needs.

“Everything they indicated was a problem,” Mr Bostwick told Tribune Business. “Every one of those things the minister identified - the capacity, the timeline, the cost - all are addressed by the Floating Power Plant proposal presented to two successive administrations.”

Both the Christie and Minnis administrations failed to bite, but

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

THE environmentalist who led the campaign to close Blackbeard’s Cay yesterday asserted she is “cosmically disappointed” in the Government while branding the surviving dolphins’ rescue a “PR stunt”. Sam Duncombe, the reEarth principal, while renewing calls for the five remaining mammals to be moved to a purpose-built “sanctuary”, told Tribune Business she felt “betrayed” and sidelined by the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources reaching out instead to Atlantis for help.

Jomo Campbell, minister of agriculture and marine resources, yesterday acknowledged that it was Mrs Duncombe and the non-profit Dolphin Project who first alerted himself and the Government to the

surviving dolphins’ plight and the previous deaths of their eight companions at an April 9, 2024 meeting. However, the reEarth chief told this newspaper that promises to grant the Dolphin Project and its representatives access to Blackbeard’s Cay, located on Balmoral Island of New Providence’s north coast, on April 15 so that they could assess the dolphins’ health never materialised.

$4M MICROGRID PROJECT SET TO BOOST EAST GB

EAST Grand Bahama

residents are set to benefit from a proposed $4m microgrid project that will create 50 construction jobs during the 12-month build out.

They were informed of the project during a public meeting last Thursday at St Cleveland Baptist Church Hall in Freetown, which was hosted by the Ministry of Finance. It will deploy renewable energy, and provide the community with more resilient energy infrastructure that is better able to withstand devastating hurricanes anticipated in future.

The project is expected to begin at the end of 2024,

with microgrids established at five locations - Freetown, High Rock, McLean’s Town, Sweeting’s Cay and Water Cay.

Ginger Moxey, minister for Grand Bahama, said: “Our government is so focused on the revitalisation of East Grand Bahama and Grand Bahama in general. We are so happy to be here at this Town Hall meeting to hear their concerns. We believe the residents are appreciating what they are hearing here tonight.”

Also in attendance were Kwasi Thompson, MP for East Grand Bahama, and Iram Lewis, MP for central Grand Bahama. The

project resulted from the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, which caused billions of dollars in damage on Grand Bahama and Abaco. This resulted in residents of East Grand Bahama being without electricity, forcing them to either relocate or use generators. Through the microgrid project, facilitated by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), east Grand Bahama’s power system will be rehabilitated and modernised with an interconnected grid network deploying solar energy designed to withstand increasingly severe hurricanes.

Realtor holds double Briland showing

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

A BAHAMIAN real

estate firm says it hosted a Harbour Island first by staging a double open house on May 2, 2024.

Corcoran CA Christie Bahamas, in a statement, said the two featured properties - House on a Dune and Luna Sea - attracted

more than 50 guests including high net worth individuals, investors and industry figure.

“Corcoran CA Christie is delighted to enter the prestigious Harbour Island market. We have the pleasure of exclusively representing these two amazing but different homes. Dune House on the world-famous Pink Sand Beach and Luna Sea, a boaters paradise,”

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CREDIT UNIONS ARE WARNED OVER CREDIT BUREAU RETHINK

said Gavin Christie, mnaging partner of Corcoran CA Christie Bahamas.

“After the resounding success of the first-ever double open house in Harbour Island, the excitement continues to reverberate through the community. It’s a testament to the demand for exceptional properties and the unmatched level of service Corcoran CA Christie Bahamas brings to the market. This is just a snapshot of what’s to come.”

Corcoran CA Christie said the event generated three promising leads and identified two active potential buyers.

credit unions have been warned that the country’s first-ever credit bureau will require all financial institutions to “rethink the way we do business”.

The Bahamas Co-Operative League (BCLL), in a statement, said it hosted Enterprise-wide risk management training on Saturday, April 27, via an event that brought together representatives from all credit unions in a bid to enhance risk management practices within the movement.

The training, conducted by the Bahamas Institute of Financial Services (BIFS), featured presenters such as Jermaine Williams, a council member and deputy

NOTICE

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 15 of the Exempted Limited Partnership Act, 1995 notice is hereby given that:

(a) EMERGING INCOME FUND MASTER ACCOUNT L.P. is in dissolution

(b) the date of commencement of the dissolution is the 10th day of May, 2024

(c) the liquidator is Anthony L. M. Inder Rieden

For the above-named company

Anthony L. M. Inder Rieden Liquidator

NOTICE

The 44th Annual General Meeting of the Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited (PWCCUL) will be held on Friday, May 31st, 2024, with registration starting at 4:00 p.m. and the meeting at 6:00p.m. at the Fusion Superplex, Gladstone Road, for the following purposes:

1. To receive and ratify the Board of Directors’ Report 2. To receive and ratify the 2023 Audited Accounts 3. To receive and ratify the (proposed) 2025 Budget 4. To elect members to the: i) Board of Directors (3); ii) Supervisory Committee (2); iii) Credit Committee (2); and iv) Nomination Committee (3) All members in good standing are encouraged to attend and participate. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED. PUBLIC WORKERS’ CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT UNION LIMITED “THE FAMILY CREDIT UNION”

education chairman at BIFS. Mr Williams highlighted the importance of strategic positioning in uncertain times, saying: “Risk management is about measuring uncertainty. We are certainly in uncertain times, and this is a good position for the credit union to strategically position itself.”

Addressing the transformative impact of CRIF Information Services Bahamas, the country’s first-ever credit bureau, Mr Williams said: “CRIF is going to cause us to rethink our policies, our procedures, just overall the way we do business.”

Reflecting on the importance of enterprise risk management, Christine Archer, chief compliance and money laundering reporting officer, and a seasoned BIFS trainer, emphasised the critical role of organisation culture.

Mrs Archer said: “One of the key things with regard to enterprise risk management is making sure that the tone from the top is what is trickled down to the employees. That tone from the top, and from senior management, encourages staff to know the strategy, the mission, the values, and that is what generates a culture in an organisation that would lead to success.”

Theresa Deleveaux, the Bahamas Co-operative League’s (BCLL) president, said: “Credit Unions have consistent training as it is an important offering in-house, and often-times even training opportunities that the general public can benefit from.”

The Enterprise-wide risk management training provided credit union representatives with invaluable knowledge and tools to navigate the evolving financial landscape.

NOTICE

International Business Companies Act (No. 45 of 2000)

GILDED INVESTMENTS, INC. (the “Company”)

Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of GILDED INVESTMENTS, INC. has been completed, a Certifcate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 3rd May, 2024.

Delio José De León Mela Liquidator

The Disability Affairs Division of the Department of Social Services has been RELOCATED from 4th Terrance Centerville to

Alexander House / Department of Social Services, Robinson Road and Montel Heights with effect from 29th April, 2024. Phone contact 397- 2503/ 397-2525

FOLLOWING the presentation by the Ministry of Finance on the Microgrid project for east Grand Bahama, the minister for Grand Bahama, Ginger Moxey, said she feels residents were pleased with the information presented.

Photo:Lisa Davis/bis

BAHAMIAN

HOUSE ON A DUNE AND LUNA SEA

RESCUED DOLPHINS IN 30 DAY ATLANTIS QUARANTINE

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minis-

ter yesterday said the five dolphins rescued from Blackbeard’s Cay will be held in 30-day quarantine at Atlantis while their health and well-being is assessed.

Jomo Campbell, minister of agriculture and marine resources, disclosed that all survivors are “doing well” and will undergo medical testing and rehabilitation at the Paradise Island-based mega resort.

He added: “All animals are doing well, eating and recovering. Their bloods are normal. We are currently awaiting permits to send their cultures off to the University of Georgia.

“The animals’ weights were taken. They were all found to be underweight, but our confidence is high in that we are sure that we can improve the weight level and there are multiple veterinarians in

consultation across the board, as it relates to the upkeep and maintenance of the dolphins.

“The dolphins will be in a quarantine period for 30 days, obviously, just to ensure they transition and acclimatise to the new habitat and the tests. We are also waiting to receive results for tests just to ensure that there’s no crosscontamination from the location of the dolphins” Atlantis covered the costs to relocate and rehabilitate the dolphins, but it has not been decided if they will remain at the mega resort long-term. Mr Campbell said the ministry will make a decision after the quarantine period and rehabilitation is complete. He added: “That will all be determined after the 30-day quarantine process and once we observe their rehabilitation. Then the next steps will certainly take place.”

Mr Campbell said the relocation was in accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act

and regulations, which give himself as the responsible minister the power to remove a dolphin from any facility if it is in the best interest of the mammal

He explained: “If a dolphin is determined, whether by the facility or minister, to no longer be suitable for use in a swim programme, or otherwise, or if the minister deems that it is no longer in the best interest of the dolphin to remain at the facility, that dolphin shall be taken into the care of a body appointed by the minister.

“Therefore, regarding the laws of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, and in the best interests of the dolphins, we acted in law and not emotion and appointed Atlantis’s animal care facility, Dolphin Cay, to receive the dolphins for further observation, medical attention.”

Mr Campbell also defended the selection of Atlantis, and highlighted its programme as the “Caribbean’s premier marine life rescue and rehabilitation

Financial analysts host

first investment dinner

THE Chartered Financial Analyst Society of The Bahamas hosted its inaugural investment dinner on Thursday, April 18, under the theme ‘Playing the bigger game’.

The event was to honour the Bahamian society’s 25th anniversary of becoming a member of the CFA Institute (formerly Association for Investment Management and Research). The Society was originally formed in 1990 as The Bahamas Society of Financial Analysts.

The event, which attracted more than 150 attendees, had John Rolle, governor of the Central

Bank, as its key speaker. He said Bahamian domestic private sector investments remain significantly under-mobilised.

Carol Geremia, MFS Investment Management’s Boston-based president and head of global distribution, challenged attendees to look beyond the immediate future and both the challenges and complexities of global capital markets. She said the complexity and risk of investing associated with investing has increased substantially over the past 30 years, while the percentage of publiclytraded securities owned by institutions has risen

but holding periods have declined.

Ms Geremia said investor capital should be invested and not simply relocated, with trust a critical factor when hiring an asset manager.

The dinner’s co-title sponsors were Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) and Scotiabank Bahamas. Partners were Colina Financial Advisors (CFAL) and the Securities Commission of The Bahamas, with the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX), CG Atlantic, Doctors Hospital, PwC Bahamas and RF Bank & Trust among the supporters.

facility”. He is confident they are receiving the “best care possible”.

The minister added: “Dolphin Cay is one of the most sophisticated habitats, being the Caribbean’s premier marine life rescue and rehabilitation facility, offering an extraordinary environment and marine mammal interaction programme.

“It is a fully licensed and internationally-accredited marine mammal facility offering immediate expertise, veterinarian assistance in the interests of and well-being of the dolphins. Today, and even right now, I am fully satisfied that Pigeon, Justice, Harry, Diamond and Fiona all receiving the best possible care, the proper nutrition, proper veterinary care and security, and I am happy to report that all dolphins are acclimating well, eating well and are on a path to good health.”

The Dolphin Project, in an online posting detailing the captive dolphins’ plight, said the survivors had

largely been abandoned and were living in poor conditions at the former Blackbeard’s Cay marine attraction where only one caretaker/trainer remained.

The venue shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, to-date, eight of the 13 dolphins have died with six fatalities alleged to have occurred in the 12 months to February 2024. The initial eight dolphins were imported from Honduras in 2014, while five of their offspring were born at Blackbeard’s Cay.

The Dolphin Project warned that The Bahamas could face a severe tourism backlash unless it saved the five surviving dolphins, with “thousands” purportedly voicing outrage and threatening never to return to this nation after it posted details about the earlier deaths of eight dolphins at the former Blackbeard’s Cay development, which is located on Balmoral Island opposite Sandals Royal Bahamian resort.

The ownership of Blue Illusions’ was initially split

50/50 between foreign investors Samir Andrawos and Victoria Iglesias. However, the project ran into financial trouble following the COVID-19 enforced tourism shutdown and border closures, and both have seen separate personal bankruptcy trustees appointed over their financial affairs by the US courts after they were unable to repay loans they personally guaranteed.

However, Damian Gomez KC, former minister of state for legal affairs, successfully obtained a Bahamian Supreme Court order authorising him to seize and take over Mr Andrawos’ 50 percent Blue Illusions stake to recover an unpaid $1.25m legal bill owed by the former owner. This, though, is being challenged by Mr Andrawos’ bankruptcy trustee, sparking legal battles in both The Bahamas and the US.

ATTENDEES from the financial services and investment management industry.

CAROL Geremia (president, MFS Investment Management) and Governor John Rolle (Central Bank of The Bahamas).

PICTURED from L to R: Stewart Miller (Securities Commission); Gowon Bowe (Fidelity Bank); Lashell White (CFAL); Governor John Rolle; Roger Archer (Scotiabank); and Angelo Butler (Society board member).

‘One-stop solution’ to BPL woes re-floated

Mr Bostwick said he has not given up hope and could rapidly mobilise such a solution once again if the Government gives the word. “The Floating Power Plant proposal represents a short, medium, long-term and complete solution,” he added.

“Short-term, any floating power plant solution could have been delivered to any government within 120 days of accepting the solution.

The solution would include 300-450 MW as the units come in 150 MW module.

It’s powered by LNG with clean-burning and carbon scrubbers. They run primarily on LNG, and the proposal includes bunkering and storage units for the LNG.”

Mr Bostwick said his first Floating Power Plant proposal involved US-based companies, and the second technology provided by the multinational, Siemens.

“The ability to put it all together remains in place,” he told this newspaper.

“If the Government says the words: ‘We want a floating power plant’ we can do it in weeks. We can have people at the table in weeks. Given the Government’s mandate this thing

could be available and put in position within a few short months. Overnight it can address the generation shortfall identified by the Attorney General.”

Mr Bostwick represented the SGI Global Holdings consortium over its $250m proposal to moor two barge-based power plants at Arawak Cay when the Christie administration was in office.

The project, billed as reducing New Providence’s energy costs by 50 percent through the supply of up to 272 Mega Watts (MW), was submitted to the previous government three times - in September 2012, May 2013, and again in 2014. Previous Tribune Business reports revealed that the Government explored the idea of bringing in a Floating Power Plant to stabilise BPL’s New Providence generation supply but decided against it on economic and technical grounds.

It is understood that the best place for such a solution to connect with BPL’s distribution grid is Clifton Pier, but this location was ruled out because of the rough seas that occur in the area during bad weather. Coral Harbour, with its

expanded Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) base, was also mulled as an alternative site but rejected because of the amount of time required to set it up.

“I for the life of me couldn’t figure out why they wouldn’t entertain that,”

Mr Bostwick said yesterday of the his earlier proposal. “They seemed to be going in every other direction. They can be connected to the BPL grid at any place. That was a source of discussion that did go on, and Clifton is not the best place for mooring a Floating Power Plant. We would not want to put it there.

“Arawak Cay is 100 percent sheltered, and it also gives us the ability to run submarine cables to the cruise ships. Those ships cannot plug in. They’d like to plug in in Nassau, but we don’t have the power to offer them. Here it is. We could charge them the maximum rate and also address the environmental concerns.”

Mr Bostwick added that submarine cables could also be run directly to Atlantis and Baha Mar from a Floating Power Plant based at Arawak Cay to provide both mega resorts with “reliable” power, “which

is why Arawak Cay is five times’ more sensible than going to the other side of the island”.

He added that Floating Power Plants have a history in the Caribbean, having been employed by the likes of Jamaica and the Dominican Republic from the 1980s, and the frequency of hurricanes had proven to be no concern.

“They can be moved to safer locations,” Mr Bostwick said. “Ours would be a fully secured mooring at Arawak Cay. When we offered it before the cost was about as low as 12 cents per KWh.” The price at which energy is sold to BPL varies according to the PPA’s length, with a 20-year deal likely to involve lower costs than a ten-year agreement.

He argued that this flexibility will give the Government sufficient breathing space to develop its desired long-term solution for BPL, which is presently burdened with $500m in legacy debt and liabilities and faced with the need to invest another half a billion dollars to upgrade critical generation and transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure.

“I would say honestly, given the statements made by this administration, it’s something they should be looking at aggressively,” Mr Bostwick told Tribune

Business of his floating power plant proposal, “and something that is a quick one-stop solution for everything they’ve articulated as being a pressing concern. It could be put in place even before a snap election.”

Mr Pinder, last week affirming that 60 percent of New Providence’s existing generation capacity, and 80 percent of what is present in the Family Islands, will be “at or near the end of their useful life” by 2029, added that BPL’s financing needs to effect change for Nassau alone are some $211m.

He said BPL’s reliance on rental generation for 113 MW of power on New Providence, and 32 MW in the Family Islands, is costing the state-owned utility an “unsustainable” $42m per annum that it is unable to fully recover from household and business customers.

And, with BPL needing to replace some 72 percent of its own “peak load generation” capacity for New Providence over the next five years, and energy demand anticipated to increase by an average 5 percent per annum, the Attorney General argued that the “status quo” was untenable given the financial numbers involved.

“BPL has severe generation constraints, and the picture is not looking any better going forward

under the status quo,” Mr Pinder said. “It is a safe estimate that 60 percent of BPL’s plant in New Providence and 80 percent in the Family Islands needs to be replaced within the next five years due to the generation engines being at or near the end of their useful life.

“Accounting for contingencies, at least 340 MW is needed in New Providence. This is to account for peak load, which was 281 MW in 2023 plus what’s called the N-2 contingencies in case you lose your two largest generators. We also anticipate a 5 percent growth in generation demand each year going forward.

“As to the generation needs, BPL requires replacement for 113 MW of rental generation and 203 MW of aged or obsolete generation fleet. Look at those numbers again: More than 40 percent of the peak load generation is rented by BPL, and over 72 percent of peak load generation that BPL owns needs replacement in the near future,” he added.

“It is estimated in New Providence alone, BPL anticipates needing more than $211m to replace the ageing fleet, to incorporate renewables and to facilitate maintenance/overhauls and other auxiliary needs.”

North Eleuthera hit by 34-hour BPL outage

that required senior engineers to be flown to the island from New Providence.

“Once the team attempted to re-energise its north feeder (out of the Hatchet Bay Power Station), they discovered major switch gear damage. The extent of the damage required expertise from New Providence and a senior engineer was flown into North Eleuthera on Sunday evening to assist the local team with completing repairs and restoring service,” said BPL.

Aldred Albury, a resident of North Eleuthera, released a statement on social media yesterday on the “profound inconvenience and the multitude of

challenges” caused by the long power outage. He said: “This outage has led to a significant water supply disruption, as without electricity our pumping systems and water treatment facilities are incapacitated. The repercussions of this outage are severe and widespread. “Our educational institutions have had no choice but to close their doors, affecting the education of our youth and placing an unexpected burden on parents and guardians. Local businesses, the cornerstone of our local economy, have been hit hard by this interruption, suffering losses that may have long-term repercussions on their viability and on our community’s economic health.”

Mr Albury called for BPL to “expedite” its efforts to restore service in North Eleuthera and produce an “actionable plan” to prevent future extended power outages.

He said: “We call upon BPL and all responsible authorities for the restoration of our utilities, and to provide a comprehensive report on the causes of this outage. We demand a clear, actionable plan to prevent such extensive disruptions in the future.

“In moments as trying as these, the strength of our community is tested. It is crucial that we support each other, but it is equally vital that our utility services and their governing bodies fulfil their responsibilities to ensure the stability and well-being of our society.”

‘ABSOLUTELY INSANE’: EX-HEALTH MINISTER BLASTS $290M HOSPITAL

infectious diseases - to ensure The Bahamas can better handle another pandemic.

While the new hospital will house more units than the dropped sixstorey tower, Dr Sands nevertheless argued that it represents a 428 percent cost increase on the former administration’s price tag. He also asserted that having two separate sites will cause “duplication” of medical services, and questioned why the Government is expanding hospital facilities when it presently lacks adequate workers to staff PMH.

“I think it’s an absolutely insane idea,” Dr Sands told Tribune Business of the new hospital. “The amount of the people’s money that’s been invested into the planned redevelopment of the downtown campus, the Government is about to waste tens of millions of dollars of the Bahamian people’s money like they did with the Central Bank headquarters project.

“I’m not sure they have a good reason. We had done extensive cross-administration studies looking at phased redevelopment on the PMH campus starting with the Critical Care Block. The next step was

ACTIVIST

the child health, maternity and emergency room. The idea was to invest in the campus downtown [PMH] in a way that was sustainable, affordable and would not break the bank.”

Both the Christie and Minnis administrations had hired the Beck Group, a US architectural and engineering firm headed by Bahamian, Fred Perpall, to plan the redevelopment of the PMH campus. Its 141page report, which has been seen by Tribune Business, called for the demolition of existing buildings, including the PMH warehouse and oncology units, to make wake for the new six-storey tower and a helipad. Further phased redevelopment called for the demolition of existing clinics and storage and their replacement by a medical/ surgical tower; expansion of surgical services; and other facilities. Beck Group had proposed a five-phase approach that also involved the creation of additional parking and a clinical housing complex according to the plans seen by this newspaper.

As a result, Dr Sands argued it was “simply absurd” to drop this plan and “start afresh” especially since it had previously been supported by both PLP and FNM administrations.

‘COSMICALLY

Instead, Mrs Duncombe argued that the Government “literally went behind our back” and cut them out while enlisting Atlantis’ help instead. And she asserted that it was unnecessary to put the five surviving dolphins through the “trauma” of being moved to the Paradise Island mega resort’s facilities as they could have been “stabilised” at Blackbeard’s Cay and remained there on a temporary basis.

Mr Campbell yesterday said the surviving dolphins will all undergo a 30-day quarantine at Atlantis where they will receive medical testing and rehabilitation before any decision is made on their long-term fate. However, Mrs Duncombe blasted: “My initial reaction is that there’s been a betrayal between the ministry and us plus the Dolphin Project because we went to them in good faith.

“We offered all the medical care, the generator for free, and the food, and after being told that we would be given access on April 15 everything went silent. They literally went behind our back and asked Atlantis to step in..

“Why are we abandoning a bi-partisan approach prepared by the Beck Group?” he asked.

“This was not something that was an off-the-cuff idea. This was something that we spent months and years coming up with. I’m deeply concerned. This is not objecting for objecting’s sake. This is about how we move public health forward.

“The Critical Care Block is the single biggest public health investment in the history of The Bahamas and it’s falling into disrepair. It’s not been maintained. How are we going to spend $290m when we cannot maintain this investment asset? It’s absolutely stupid, and pandering to the belief that somehow there’s an infinite resource of recourse.”

Dr Darville, though, told Tribune Business that the issue of whether to further redevelop/expand PMH or “go to a greenfield site” with a new hospital had been thoroughly studied by healthcare planners. The latter option was chosen because it was thought better to “create a specialist hospital” to handle maternal and child health issues. This, in turn, would free-up space at PMH to expand surgical and other services.

“We assessed the situation on reports left behind and some additional work,” Dr Darville explained. “It was clear to us that PMH cannot be moved as a lot of money has been invested there. We felt we should decouple specialist services from PMH and use the space left behind for the development of general surgery and medicines.

“Most countries have specialist hospitals and we wee advised to move in that direction. It doesn’t take staff away. The former administration wanted to create a child and adolescent wing. We wanted to create a child and adolescent hospital, and this would allow PMH to improve the services left behind.

“Our healthcare planners guided us in that direction. This is a proven approach to the delivery of these services.” Dr Darville said this model is a track that other Caribbean countries have taken, and he argued that there are “a lot of issues with child and maternal health that need to improve”, including mortality and morbidity rates, “although we’ve pumped a lot of money into it”.

“We can do a better job with that,” the minister added, “and follow suit with the rest of the region. A

specialist hospital for child and maternal care is long overdue. We’ve decided to go in that direction.”

Dr Sands, though, was far from convinced especially given the new hospital’s $290m price tag even though the project is set to be financed at a concessionary 2 percent interest rate via a 20-year loan issued by the China Export-Import Bank, the same Beijing governmentowned institution that financed Baha Mar’s multibillion resort development.

“I don’t see it. I don’t see the necessity or the rationale for this decision,” Dr Sands reiterated to Tribune Business. “I think that, for a number of reasons, this ought to be rethought. I don’t see what real benefit accrues to the Bahamian people.

“The first thing is that, as you may recall, the minister of health that followed me, Renward Wells, he would have given the House of Assembly a report that said we would have gotten funding for the maternal/child wing at a cost of $55m on the site of PMH. How is it this is locked at $290m? The maths still ain’t math-ing.

“You also have a situation where you start the disintegration of healthcare. It means you have to duplicate various services.

You have to have a laboratory, an imaging unit, over at the new hospital but you don’t have enough human resources or equipment to maintain what you have now,” Dr Sands argued.

“What makes you think you will be able to afford and maintain duplicate facilities?

“Right now, PMH or the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) is under-funded by about $30m per annum. You don’t have enough nurses in critical care, the operations room or the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

“If you are going to run a maternal hospital, you need an NICU. We already have the largest NICU in the Caribbean, which is not maintained. If you cannot maintain the single largest unit for healthcare already, why redo it somewhere else when all the experts will have to travel back and forth and will have to do so in traffic.

“We already have a situation in The Bahamas where a significant portion of healthcare facilities are shut down because we don’t have sufficient human resources. Now you want to make that problem worse? How dumb is that?”

DISAPPOINTED’ WITH GOV’T OVER DOLPHINS’ RESCUE

“To say I am cosmically disappointed in the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources and Jomo Campbell is an understatement,” she continued. “What I know is that we’ve already been betrayed once in this. Minister Campbell told me in my meeting on April 10 that he would restore my faith in the public service. It’s anything but that.

“I had spoken to a vet. Those animals could have been cared for where they were without the trauma of being man handled and moved in their current state to something where they have never been before in their lives and perhaps separated from one another.”

Mrs Duncombe echoed fellow Bahamian environmental activist, Gail Woon, in voicing concerns that the five Blackbeard’s Cay dolphins have merely exchanged one captive dolphin facility for another - albeit the Atlantis facilities will represent a significant improvement.

And she was especially fearful that Luis Hernandez, the dolphins’ former caretaker at Blackbeard’s Cay and “the only human they have known” is not part of the team taking care

of them at Atlantis. “Those animals are in a very stressed environment right now,” the reEarth chief added. “This was absolutely just not the right move. The only person they have known is not with them and he is heart broken.”

Ric O’Barry, the Dolphin Project’s co-founder and director, also criticised the five surviving dolphins’ rescue from Blackbeard’s Cay as a “PR spectacle” designed to counter the negative publicity The Bahamas was receiving over the mammals’ condition.

“They’ve only lived in this one place on Blackbeard’s Cay and should have received first aid before they were moved. I think it’s unfortunate,” he told Tribune Business. “I think it’s just a PR stunt. They could have received first aid right where they were.

Mr O’Barry said the Dolphin Project had flown a vet to The Bahamas from Hawaii, and she would have been able to perform the necessary bloodwork and other tests to assess the mammals’ health, “stabilise” their condition while shade and other improvements to the Blackbeard’s

Cay facility were made, and that would have created sufficient time to “figure out how to get them to a sanctuary”.

Disclosing that the Dolphin Project has performed similar rescues in Guatemala, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Brazil, Mr O’Barry added: “There are so many beautiful islands in The Bahamas where a sanctuary can be done. reEarth has drawn up plans, and my son created the one in Bali.

“That can be duplicated where you have proper weather and, more important, the co-operation with the Government. If you don’t have that, you can’t do anything. If you don’t have the co-operation of the Government you are spinning your wheels. If I feel like I am wasting my time, I will move on to something else. They have the opportunity, and if they still want to do something we’re not far away. But I don’t have too much hope in this government.”

Mrs Duncombe, meanwhile, renewed calls for the five surviving Blackbeard’s Cay dolphins to be moved to a sanctuary while adding it did not have to be a facility created by reEarth or the Dolphin Project.

“I just have so much difficulty understanding why the Dolphin Project was not given the go-ahead to go in, stabilise the animals, give them medical care and, if it was deemed they needed more care, we’d have reached out to Atlantis to help,” she told Tribune Business

“We’re not that stupid. We’ve said from the first utterances out of my mouth that we wanted to make sure those animals are OK. Was it necessary to move them? It’s such a PR spectacle. It looks like they are the good guys. It is just a

monumentally insane situation that they went and man-handled those animals to get them over to Atlantis and make it look like a big rescue operation.

“It just blows my mind. We would rather have had Ric O’Barry go in quietly, do what he needs to do without spectacle, put up shade and evaluate them over a period of time to determine what’s wrong with them. The big brou ha ha to make it look like they were heroes was totally unnecessary. The operation should have happened where they were.”

CABLE HITS BACK OVER INTERNET AFFORDABILITY

“Entry level fixed broadband prices in The Bahamas are amongst the lowest and most affordable in the Caribbean region. Like the TV market, the broadband market is therefore effectively competitive and there is no SMP,” Cable Bahamas alleged.

“The reality is that prices for broadband services have largely remained flat in The Bahamas and broadband prices are also low when compared to other countries in the region... Fixed broadband prices in The Bahamas are well below those charged in most other Caribbean countries, and Cable Bahamas is disappointed that URCA did not reference any regional benchmarks in its discussion of excessive pricing.

“Indeed, in its discussion of potential remedies, URCA alleges that excessive pricing occurs in fixed broadband markets when the evidence of the regional benchmark above points to the opposite conclusion.”

Hitting back at URCA’s comparison of BTC and Cable Bahamas’ pricing, the latter added: “URCA observes that for the three price points considered, Cable Bahamas is consistently charging a higher retail price than BTC ranging from 38 percent to 52 percent higher.

“URCA makes the point that the observed differences in retail prices could suggest that Cable Bahamas ‘is able to price independently of the market’ and that ‘this may explain Cable Bahamas’ increasing market share over time’. This analysis is fundamentally flawed.

“Cable Bahamas has been subject to the retail pricing rules for its broadband services since 2014, and any broadband prices would therefore have been approved by URCA or by its predecessor, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Cable Bahamas is therefore not in a position to price independently of the market,” the BISXlisted communications provider added.

“It is more likely that the table is indicative of

BTC’s commercial strategy relative to Cable Bahamas. Where Cable Bahamas, as the market leader, offers significant discounts for its bundles relative to its standalone services, BTC as the challenger in the broadband and TV markets would logically deploy a market penetration strategy with lower prices to entice standalone customers to switch between providers. This is not an indication of independent pricing, but an example of competition at work.”

Calling on URCA to address consumer protection issues via a universal service review, Cable Bahamas added: “Cable Bahamas urges URCA to align itself with international best practice and deregulate these fixed retail markets, as URCA has previously done in the mobile retail markets. This would reduce the regulatory burden on the market, improve innovation, stimulate investments and further enhance competition....

“Cable Bahamas also notes that URCA no longer appears to have concerns about predatory pricing in any market, no concerns about undue bundling in any market, no concerns about undue price discrimination in any market and no margin squeeze concerns that require ex-ante regulation. URCA appears to be primarily concerned with consumer protection issues facing standalone customers.

“Cable Bahamas agrees with URCA that there are likely to be small and declining user groups in the market that rely on standalone TV and fixed telephony services, in particular. With younger segments of the market opting to use streaming and mobile services, these customer groups are likely to be older and they continue to make use of services they trust and value.

“This is not to say that they are all vulnerable customers and that these customers have affordability issues in relation to the services they purchase. These matters should be examined by URCA as part of its universal service review.”

ASIAN SHARES MIXED IN MUTED TRADING AFTER WALL STREET BARELY BUDGES

By YURI KAGEYAMA

AP Business Writer

ASIAN shares were mixed in muted trading Tuesday after U.S. stock indexes were little changed ahead of the release of inflation data.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost early gains and was trading less than 0.1% higher at 38,194.38.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2% to 7,731.40. South Korea's Kospi was little changed, inching up less than 0.1% to 2,726.76. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up less than 0.1% at 19,115.78, while the Shanghai Composite lost nearly 0.3% to 3,139.89.

Investors were watching for indicators on inflation to gauge the direction of economic growth, as well as the strength of the dollar.

"Today marks a significant day for both Germany and the U.S.A. as they are set to unveil crucial economic data," said Luca Santos, market analyst at ACY Securities, referring to consumer price data from Germany and producer costs in the U.S.

"Despite their different focuses, both indices offer insights into how inflation is shaping society," said Santos. On Monday, the S&P 500 edged down less than 0.1%, to 5,221.42 after flipping between small gains and losses through the day. It remains within 0.6% of its record set at the end of March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2% to 39,431.51, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%, to 16,338.24.

Biopharmaceutical company Incyte jumped 8.6% after saying it would buy back up to $2 billion of

its stock. It's the latest big company to say it's returning cash to shareholders through such purchases, which boost the amount of earnings that each remaining share is entitled to.

GameStop soared 74.4% in a swing reminiscent of its maniacal moves from three years ago, when hordes of smaller-pocketed investors sent the stock's price way above what many professional investors considered rational.

Stocks have broadly rallied this month following a rough April on revived hopes that inflation may ease enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate later this year. A key test for those hopes will arrive Wednesday, when the U.S. government offers the latest monthly update on inflation that households are feeling across the country.

Other reports this week include updates on inflation that wholesalers are seeing and sales at U.S. retailers. They could show whether fears are warranted about a worst-case scenario for the country, where stubbornly high inflation forms a devastating combination with a stagnating economy.

Hopes have climbed that the economy can avoid what's called "stagflation" and hit the bull's eye where it cools enough to get inflation under control but stays sturdy enough to avoid a bad recession. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also gave financial markets comfort when he recently said the Fed remains closer to cutting rates than to raising them, even if inflation has remained hotter than forecast so far this year.

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