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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH, 2019
$4.52 Health model revamp in $100m Dorian rebuilding By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A CABINET minister yesterday said the public health system’s $100m post-Dorian rebuild will likely create a “more efficient model” on the impacted islands, adding: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Dr Duane Sands, minister of health, told Tribune Business that the number of public health clinics on Grand Bahama was likely to fall from the nine that existed pre-storm to around five to six, supported by “augmented” services, once reconstruction was complete. And he revealed that Dorian will spark the rollout of “advanced medical care services in Abaco”, including the provision of trauma-related care and a host of other services that will help to produce cost savings from less reliance on patients being evacuated to New Providence for care. Emphasising that Dorian will “force a rethink of all the government’s priorities”, Dr Sands said the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme’s proposed expansion to include more costly secondary care treatments would now have to be “pushed back even more” due to the storm blowing out the government’s projected 2019-2020 fiscal deficit to around $574m. Praising NHI for “punching above its weight” in the delivery of primary care services to more than 60,000 enrolled beneficiaries, he
DR DUANE SANDS added that it had reduced the burden on an alreadystretched public healthcare sector from high patient demand. And, while “significant health infrastructure” has been lost to Dorian, Dr Sands pledged that it will ultimately be rebuilt so that the delivery of healthcare services on Abaco and Grand Bahama becomes more effective. “We will rethink the architecture of the health services model in Grand Bahama and Abaco, and make it more efficient,” he told Tribune Business. “Whereas we had nine clinics and one major hospital in Grand Bahama, when all this is said and done I doubt we will have nine clinics in Grand Bahama; we will probably have five to six and an augmented healthcare system. “We’ll probably make some changes to the deployment of healthcare services in Abaco. In Abaco, expect to see added services with an increased load being carried by the Marsh Harbour clinic.”
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A BAHAMAS-based oil explorer yesterday said it now has “all the tools we need” to drill an exploratory well within the 2020 year-end target set by the government, its top executive said yesterday. Simon Potter, the Bahamas Petroleum Company’s (BPC) chief executive, told Tribune Business he was “very confident we can deliver” after the company
raised sufficient investor financing to almost totally cover the $25m high-end cost for the well. Revealing that the oil rig would only be on site for 60 days during the 2020 first half, Mr Potter said BPC had not stopped its search for a joint venture or farm-in partner given that it would ultimately need to drill more wells to determine “the size and scale” of any discovery should the first prove successful.
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Port owners will ‘act for Freeport’ on airport offer By YOURI KEMP THE two Grand Bahama International Airport shareholders are engaged in high-level talks over the government’s desire to acquire the asset from them, it was revealed last night. Ian Rolle, the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) president, confirmed that the Hayward and St George families, as well as Hutchison Whampoa, are discussing how to respond to the government’s stance on a facility that is key to the island’s revival.
“I know my shareholders would entertain anything in the best interest of Freeport,” Mr Rolle told Tribune Business, declining to address the situation further. He spoke out after Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, confirmed the government is mulling the acquisition after blasting Hutchison Whampoa’s failure to “demonstrate an effort” to urgently restore the airport to its pre-Dorian state. Disclosing that it will
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Consumers set to finance $650m BPL debt doubling
By NEIL HARTNELL and YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporters
Oil explorer: ‘All the tools we will need’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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ELECTRICITY consumers were yesterday told to brace for an “adjustment” to their bills via an extra charge as Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) confirmed plans for its mammoth $650m-plus refinancing. Dr Donovan Moxey, the state-owned utility’s chairman, promised that the proposed Rate Reduction Bond issue will ultimately result in “better outcomes” for all Bahamian households and businesses even though the “structure” of electricity bills will change. Using carefully-worded, guarded language, a BPL
• Bond fee to alter every six months • But uility still pledges lower costs • Will remove ‘anchor around neck’ statement quoted Dr Moxey as saying the new billing structure would “function as a short-term deposit” that will ultimately enable consumers to enjoy longer term savings from reduced fuel costs and more efficient generation plant. However, legislation to facilitate the Rate Reduction Bond (RRB) issue, which was tabled in Parliament yesterday, makes clear that BPL’s customer base will be relied upon to service what is essentially a
doubling of the debt burden associated with the utility to secure its financial future. The Order to issue the bonds, according to the Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Bill 2019, has to “approve the imposition and collection by BPL of the rate reduction bond fee” and stipulate the initial level at which this will be set. The Bill, which will replace the Act passed previously by the former Christie administration, provides that the fee can be
DR DONOVAN MOXEY adjusted - “at a minimum semi-annually - to ensure that the collection of such fee will produce sufficient revenues to pay all ongoing financing costs as the same become due and payable”.
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Politicians ignoring ‘powder puff’ growth By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net POLITICIANS are reluctant to tackle The Bahamas’ consumer debt woes for fear of undermining much of the spending fuelling the economy’s “powder puff” growth, a well-known developer said yesterday. Sir Franklyn Wilson, pictured, the Arawak Homes chairman, told Tribune
Business it was easier for both major parties to “turn a blind eye” to the increasing number of Bahamians becoming financially crippled by excessive borrowing due to the “short-term” benefits produced by their spending on consumer goods. Arguing that this was “not sustainable economic development”, Sir Franklyn said much of The Bahamas’ economic growth has been built on a flimsy
debt-fuelled platform rather than long-term savings and investments in the economy’s productive sectors. These concerns were reinforced by this week’s publication of the latest Central Bank’s Lending Conditions Survey, which revealed that debt consolidation loans - the last resort rescue act for troubled borrowers - received the most applications of any
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