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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017
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Uncertainty if Baha Mar completion target struck By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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either Baha Mar nor its main contractor were last night able to confirm whether Sunday’s ‘substantial completion’ target for the $4.2 billion project had been met. Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of government and external affairs, told Tribune Business he was about to board a plane in Charlotte and unable to “verify” if China Construction America (CCA) had hit its October 15 target. “I can’t answer at this point in time,” Mr Sands replied. “I’d have to verify
* DEVELOPER, NOR CCA CAN CONFIRM OCTOBER 15 HIT * $4.2BN HOTEL YET TO GAIN FULL OCCUPANCY CERTIFICATE * LOUNGE CHAIR SOLUTION ‘MAY DETRACT’ FROM LOOKS and double check, and get back to you.” He referred Tribune Business to senior CCA Bahamas executive, Daniel Liu. But when this newspaper contacted Leslie Pindling, Mr Liu’s spokesman on CCA’s The Pointe project, he said the executive with responsibility for the Baha Mar project was Tiger Wu. Unable to confirm whether the October 15 ‘substantial completion’ deadline had been hit, Mr Pindling said he would e-mail Mr Liu, who is
QC: ‘LET THERE BE LIGHT’ ON GB POWER BUY-OUT By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A prominent QC yesterday pledged to investigate “the rhyme and reason” behind the Grand Bahama Power Company buyout, and urged: “Let there be light.” Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, who is himself a shareholder in ICD Utilities, told Tribune Business he felt Bahamian investors were being “kept in the dark” on the rationale for buying out their holdings.
* TO PROBE ‘RHYME AND REASON’ FOR EMERA OFFER * DISLIKES POSSIBILITY OF 100% FOREIGN CONTROL * MOVE OPPOSITE OF EDWARD ST GEORGE INTENTIONS Emera, the Canadian utility that owns 80.37 per cent of GB Power, is offering to acquire the minority equity interest held by Bahamian shareholders in a near-$35
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ALIV: $5.6M BOND RELEASE SHOWS ROLL-OUT TARGETS HIT By NATARIO MCKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas’ second mobile operator yesterday said more than 4,000 subscribers have switched to its network, with regulators releasing $5.6 million from its performance bond. Damian Blackburn, Aliv’s chief executive, said the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) release of more than 30 per cent of its pledged security showed it
was meeting network rollout milestones. “We have had over 4,000 customers moving their number from the other operator [Bahamas Telecommunications Company] to us,” said Mr Blackburn. Mobile number portability was launched in April 2017, allowing consumers to retain their existing number for commercial purposes and ease of contact while switching providers. Aliv said it has more than 80,000 subscribers. Mr
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currently in China, with Tribune Business’s inquiry and get back to this newspaper. The uncertainty over whether CCA has hit target came as well-placed Tribune Business sources last night revealed that Baha Mar has yet to obtain a full certificate of occupancy (CO). The $4.2 billion project is still operating under the temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO) issued in March 2017 prior to its ROBERT SANDS
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Mail boat woes ‘unacceptable in the 21st century’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MAIL boat practices are creating further hardship for Family Island economies, a Chamber of Commerce executive yesterday warning: “This is not acceptable in the 21st century.” Roderick Simms, chair of the Chamber’s Family Island division, told Tribune Business he was receiving constant complaints from the southern Bahamas that some mail boats were not abiding by governmentimposed freight tariffs. Revealing that other parts of the Bahamas have also been impacted by this practice, Mr Simms said businesses and consumers
* SOME OPERATORS NOT ADHERING TO GOV’T TARIFFS * ISSUE ADDING TO FAMILY ISLANDS ‘HARDSHIP’ * CHAMBER DIRECTOR: ‘STOP KICKING CAN DOWN ROAD’ were being equally impacted by price fluctuations resulting from mail boat operators “charging whatever they want to charge”. He added that other complaints related to infrequent sailings; missing goods; and perishables that went bad during voyages because refrigeration equipment was broken.
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FINANCIAL PROVIDER SLAMS ‘ABSURD’ IMF By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN financial services provider yesterday slammed the IMF’s “absurd” conclusion that this nation has minimised the economic impact of the sector’s contraction. Paul Moss, principal of Dominion Management Services, told Tribune Business that the job losses alone showed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was “dead wrong and dead off” in its findings. Responding to the paper that concluded the Bahamas had “managed” well the 65 per cent decline in bank and trust company assets in the five years to 2016, and contained the
* ‘DEAD WRONG AND DEAD OFF’ ON CONTRACTION * JOB LOSSES SHOW ‘DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ * URGES END TO BANK ‘ENCROACHMENT’ “spillover” impact, Mr Moss said he and many other executives “certainly don’t recognise” such a scenario. Warning that the financial services industry was “in a downward spiral” and “will surely die” under its present structure, the Dominion chief said proposed regulatory fee increases would only further drive up the Bahamas’ cost of doing business. He suggested that the Bahamas also reserve company incorporation and administration services for locally-owned firms, and stop the banks and trust companies “encroaching”
on this revenue stream. “I certainly don’t recognise that,” Mr Moss told Tribune Business of the IMF’s conclusions. “I was in the United Arab Emirates, and spoke to the Crown Prince and others. They said that when the IMF comes to them they take out what is useful, and reject what is not. This is clearly what I recommend to the Government of the Bahamas. “The IMF is correct in its assessment of the way we ought to go with a low rate corporate and income tax. But it is incorrect to suggest that the contraction, to the extent they suggest, has not had an
effect on the industry and wider economy. It’s absurd. “They are dead wrong and dead off. Anyone with an inch of sense can see that to suggest a contraction of 65 per cent has no effect is absolutely ludicrous.” Mr Moss continued: “I can tell you there are many people without jobs because, right now, there not sufficient opportunities within the country because of the contraction. “You speak to anyone in this industry and they will tell you the industry is engaged in a downward spiral, and they don’t know how this will come back and if it ever will come back. If we keep it as presently structured, it will surely die.”
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