The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government was yesterday urged to “restrict” all proceeds derived from public asset sales, such as the impending Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) privatisation, solely to paying down the $5.567 billion national debt.

This, and the development of a National Land Policy to better manage the Government’s real estate assets, were among the key fiscal reform demands that the Coalition for Responsible Taxation has made of the Government.

“Revenue derived from the disposal of assets must be restricted to debt repayment,” the Coalition urged. “And facilitate the development of a National Land Policy to restrict sales of land, and promote long-term leases and better evaluate the best utilisation of national assets.”

Robert Myers, the Coalition’s co-chair, explaining the rationale for assigning 100 per cent of privatisation proceeds to paying down the national debt, told Tribune Business: “We don’t want to see it just go into a black hole.

“We want to make sure it’s bringing down our debt, which brings down the amount of interest we have to pay, and which affects the debt-to-GDP ratio.

‘We have to show the international community we’re serious about chopping away at the debt.”

As for the National Land Policy call, Mr Myers said the Government needed to better - and more transparently - manage its Crown Land, its usage and what its “real asset value”.

The Government is the Bahamas’ largest landowner, and Mr Myers compared it to this nation’s largest private owners/developers, saying that unlike the administration, both Albany and New Providence Development Company knew the value of their assets and had a long-term plan for their use.

“There’s no good database of Crown Land, the assets of the country,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business. “It’s important to know what the real asset value is. What is the value of those lands? Has anyone done an evaluation of current Crown Land holdings to understand what the Government earns?

“If we don’t know what that inventory is, don’t know what that is and don’t have a plan for it, it’s subject to changing directives from one minister to the next.”

Suggesting that the Government enter into long-term lease agreements as opposed to selling Crown Land, Mr Myers said this would generate consistent income streams for the Treasury.

Calling for Crown Land to be run as a business, he reiterated: “Have a long-term plan, know what the assets are worth, and understand what revenue those assets are going to generate for the country.”