business@tribunemedia.net
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2019
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JEFFREY BECKLES
Beckles: Dorian presents opportunity to ‘build on for the futre’ By YOURI KEMP
THERE are significant opportunities following Hurricane Dorian, says Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation chief executive Jeffrey Beckles. Mr Beckles said while Dorian has inflicted serious damage, it has also provided significant opportunities for us to build on for the future. He added that while some from the government and others have estimated that “the financial impact to the government from Dorian is between $250m to $450m”, when you look at the amount of persons not working in the short-term and their contribution and impact to the economy then “that number is expected to grow” within the coming months. He said when looking at rebuilding Abaco in particular, the country should focus on rebuilding for 40,000 people and not just
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Chamber chief: Baker’s Bay lay-offs ‘temporary’ By YOURI KEMP
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EDUNDANCIES made at Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club are only temporary, insisted Abaco Chamber of Commerce president Ken Hutton, pictured, yesterday. Speaking to Tribune Business, Mr Hutton said there were no layoffs at the club, only temporary redundancies during the down-period. Hutton, who said he had spoken to management at Baker’s Bay said he was told: “Basically, no staff members ‘laid-off’ or fired, but were made ‘redundant’ for the time being.” Essentially, all of the people in the housekeeping and hospitality portion of the resort, which is closed following Hurricane Dorian, were made. Mr Hutton added: “What they (Baker’s Bay management) did was that they paid everyone for several weeks and they are retrenching, but are now back in the construction and reconstruction phase. When that is done they will get back to hiring
BPL exec works to upgrade ‘archaic’ state of equipment By YOURI KEMP THE chief executive of BPL, Whitney Heastie, said he was “stunned” by the state of equipment at the company in a new video released by the power supplier. Mr Heastie promised that upgrades are coming as he warned about the state of long-standing disrepair of power generating facilities - with changes expected by next year. In a video produced by BPL that aired on television last night and is on BPL’s YouTube page, Mr Heastie said some of the systems in both the operations and maintenance sections BPL are “archaic”. He said some of the equipment still uses outdated floppy disk drives. Mr Heastie said one of the control rooms at BPL was built in the 1970s and one of the machines shut down nine months ago was operating from that control room. Mr Heastie said they are currently upgrading both facilities and management and procedural processes. He said BPL is designing a centralised generation control so they won’t have three stations operating in “silos” but will be operated from a central control centre to be online by next year. BPL has been going through a year of severe power disruptions and load-shedding exercises. Chairman Dr Donovan
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WHITNEY HEASTIE Moxey said they are doing everything in their power to restore trust. In an article published this week, Dr Moxey said: “This summer, customers of Bahamas Power and Light have yet again endured frustrating periods of load-shedding as generation capacity has failed to meet demand for electricity. Prime Minister, the Most Honorable Dr Hubert A Minnis, was correct – this was a crisis for families who could not cook meals, small business owners who could not complete transactions, and every Bahamian who had their daily life disrupted by these periods without power.” Dr Moxey also said: “Our generation fleet in some cases is almost 40 years old. From a practical standpoint, that means when parts are needed they can be difficult to procure or simply may no longer be available. “Demand for electricity has grown dramatically in New Providence. Unfortunately, this growing demand
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BAKER’S BAY AERIEL VIEW and bringing people back on to work. It is what one would expect.” A letter that was sent to staff members of Baker’s Bay from management announcing these redundancies was forwarded to Tribune Business, stating that while the club will be closed for the foreseeable future, the closure period is expected to be between six to 15 months, but all salaried staff and hourly staff will be paid through to October 20. In addition, management identified about 200 positions that will provide support during the club’s closure. The letter added that individuals in jobs that the club will be unable to support during the estimated closure will be deemed
redundant as of October 21 and will be paid in accordance with the Bahamian Employment Act. Mr Hutton added: “They do not plan to close down, in fact it is quite the opposite. They are trying to rebuild the resort back to former glory and moving full steam ahead with it. “I do know that in terms of employment right now, they have 236 people on site working in construction, and 200 coming in on the ferry every day. They are not shutting down, they are moving ahead with rebuilding. “They also have a 100person accommodation barge (for workers) that is on site now and another one coming soon,” Hutton also said. Trying to allay fears Baker’s Bay may be shutting
down, Mr Hutton said: “They are not downsizing. They are rightsizing to deal with the deal situation. “But no one has been laid-off, they have just been made redundant during the down period because there is no business or any expected within the short term.” Member of parliament for Central and South Abaco James Albury said of the situation: “As a representative of Abaco, I am always disappointed to see my constituents lose work opportunities, but I sincerely hope that after the time of restructure and repair, they will follow through with their intent to hire and put more Abaconians back to work as soon as possible.”
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Businesses urged not to miss out on Canton Fair SUBSCRIPTIONS to the Canton Fair-China Export and Import Fair 2020 being organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation is low, says chief executive Jeffrey Beckles. Mr Beckles said that he feels that everyone is currently pre-occupied with Dorian matters and have not had the time or money available to make concerted preparations to attend next year. He further added that this was part of the reason why the fair was put off for this year in October as well as “too many people had to take on Dorian burdens and that people are now watching their spending in these upcoming months”. Mr Beckles went on to say however that the Canton Fair 2020 will offer a tremendous opportunity for those that want to attend as there is a multiplicity of opportunities that Bahamian businesses can take advantage of if they network with businesses in China. Pointing to what was on the Canton Fair’s website, Mr Beckles made Tribune Business aware that there are three phases at each of the sessions that will show different products. Phase 1 will show electrical and electronic products,
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