business@tribunemedia.net
THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017
$4.20 Save ‘dying Freeport’ via tax regime repeal By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net Freeport’s new ‘tax breaks’ regime must be repealed to save a city that “is dying and on its last legs”, a prominent QC urged yesterday. Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, said the Grand Bahama (Port Area) Investment Incentives Act 2016 was merely the latest incident of Freeport being thrown into “economic turmoil” by ill-advised government policy. Slamming the Christie administration’s failure to properly consult with, and inform, Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) licensees on the Act’s implications, Mr Smith called on it to reverse course and simply extend Freeport’s expired tax breaks until 2054 - when the Hawksbill Creek Agreement ends. Confirming that he was likely to take legal action on licensees’ behalf over the new Act, he added that Freeport’s business environment was being “tam-
QC: City in ‘turmoil’ over new incentive process Bahamas academic says Act ‘antiincentive’ in nature Morris tells Govt: ‘Absolutely wrong way to go’ pered” with by persons “who don’t have the foggiest idea” of the city’s reality. The Government yesterday provided some modest relief to the 3,500 GBPA licensees, confirming in writing that the deadline by which they must apply for renewal of their real property tax, capital gains and income tax exemptions has been extended by one month - from March 6 to April 4, 2017. “The Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry for Grand Bahama, in collaboration with the Bahamas Investment Authority, wish to See pg b6
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Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net Bahamian farmers were yesterday blaming a “bad feed batch” from the Gladstone Road Agriculture Centre (GRAC) for recent pig deaths, with one telling Tribune Business he had lost close to 50 pigs and more than $35,000 as a result. The farmer, who spoke to Tribune Business on the condition of anonymity due to victimisation fears, said: “I understand that they had an issue with the feed. At the Government place they lost a bunch of pigs also. “We all got the same feed. I feed pigs down in Exuma. They say the pigs died from sand ingestion. I’ve never heard such foolishness in my life. Those pigs have been living on that cay now for how long. Why would they die from sand ingestion now?” V Alfred Gray, minister of agriculture and marine resources, recently told reporters that Exuma’s
Claims of near 50 deaths, thousands in losses
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Baha Mar owner silent on 2018 Rosewood open By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net Baha Mar’s new owner was last night silent on revelations by the Rosewood hotel brand that the opening for its 200-room resort has seemingly been pushed back to Spring 2018. Rosewood, which is itself owned by prospective Baha Mar purchaser, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE), announced its opening date via an official press release published on February 28. “Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has been appointed by the Bahamian subsidiary of Hong Kong-based development company, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE), to operate and manage
CTFE’s hotel brand in push back to Spring next year Bran: Shows project ‘still very much up in the air’ FNM deputy fears jobs, taxes delay for Bahamas Baha mar Development Site Rosewood Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas, which will open in Spring 2018,” the resort brand’s opening statement said. This indicates that Rosewood’s opening has been pushed back, as the Ba-
hamas Business Outlook presentation in January by Graeme Davis, CTFE’s top Bahamas-based executive, showed both its hotel and the SLS Lux would be completed in time for Baha Mar’s ‘grand opening’ in
November/December 2017. Travel news websites also previously cited this date for Rosewood opening. Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of government and external See pg b5
Water Corp’s $159m subsidy driven from 2/3 ‘cost recovery’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Farmers suffer in pig wipe-out from ‘bad feed’ By NATARIO McKENZIE
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Leslie Miller, MP for Tall Pines
The Water & Sewerage Corporation’s revenues cover just two-thirds of its operating expenses because its prices have not been increased for 18 years, costing Bahamian taxpayers $159 million over a five-year period. The Corporation’s 2015 annual report, tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday, reiterated that taxpayer subsidies averaging almost $32 million per year between 2011-2015 were necessary because the See pg b4
Selling water at price 35% below production cost Miller: ‘Drain on taxpayers has to be stopped’ Pension ‘timebomb’; 2015 financials qualified
Agriculture blow from bad Govt food supply Swimming pigs death explanation ‘foolishness’ world-renowned swimming pigs had died from ingesting “sand material”. Mr Gray said that according to a report by the chief veterinary officer attached to his ministry, an autopsy performed on some of the animals revealed the pigs had “a good amount of sand” in their stomachs. More than a half a dozen of the swimming pigs were found dead under mysterious circumstances more than a week ago. The majority of the pigs, believed to be around 15, See pg b7
Bahamas ‘can’t get away without VAT’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net The Bahamas “couldn’t get away without” implementing Value-Added Tax (VAT), a prominent governance reform campaigner argued yesterday, because the national debt and annual deficits were simply “too high”. Robert Myers, a principal with the Organisation for See pg b4
Deficit and debt ‘too high’ to make it unnecessary Myers: Tax crackdown can ‘negate’ VAT rise need Reiterates call for focus on ‘most efficient’ taxes Why Buy Anywhere Else ?
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