The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A prominent Freeport attorney is today urging the government to “save” the city and itself by allocating $70m from any post-COVID-19 stimulus spending to Grand Bahama International Airport’s rebuild.

Terence Gape, senior partner at Dupuch & Turnquest, warns that The Bahamas cannot afford to “leave Freeport out in the cold again” given that it remains the one island with the available infrastructure to support significant economic growth and generate new revenue streams for the government.

Writing on Page 3B in today’s Tribune Business, Mr Gape warns that “the country has no viable future without Grand Bahama” on the basis that it is “the only place in The Bahamas that can create the jobs and increased income” required to serve the extra multi-billion dollar debt the government must incur to cover its deficits and prevent the economy’s total collapse due to the pandemic.

Yet Freeport and the wider island “will not have a chance” unless the government moves to restore Grand Bahama International Airport to a status where it can once again receive international commercial flights and act as a gateway for commercial investors coming to the island.

Mr Gape, also warning that The Bahamas may have to develop a satisfactory COVID-19 testing and tracking regime if it is to be declared a safe destination for American travellers by the US State Department, suggested there were several new industries that could be attracted to Grand Bahama if the airport and other investment regime features were right.

Besides medical marijuana distribution centres supplying Canada and US states where this was legal, Mr Gape said he was also aware of investor interest in establishing “depositories” that would secure gold bullion, art and other forms of wealth accumulated by the rich and famous.

“If they’re going to borrow $500m or whatever it is to keep the country alive, what’s going to happen after COVID-19? We’ve got to think beyond the virus,” Mr Gape told Tribune Business. “Freeport will not have a chance, and you’re not going to be able to go back for more water after this is over. Credit is going to be maxed out.

“If we’re left without an airport, we’re facing the same dire straits as since Dorian. We need to look at what’s going to happen after this tragedy. It’s an economic disaster, not just for Freeport. No tourists are going to be travelling before November.

“We’ve got to establish a COVID-19 tracing and testing regime otherwise the US State Department might not give clearance to The Bahamas for visitors,” he added. “That’s my opinion. We have to start working on that right away.

“The tourists are going to say: Is it safe to go to The Bahamas? The US State Department is going to say: ‘No. They don’t know the number of cases they have because they have no tracing and testing regime in place’. We’d better start paying attention.”

Prior to COVID-19, the Government had been in discussions with Grand Bahama International Airport’s present owners - Hutchison Port Holdings and the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) Port Group Ltd - over a deal where it would pay both $1 each to take over ownership but allow them to retain the Hurricane Dorian insurance proceeds.

It is unclear how far negotiations have advanced, as they have likely been placed on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, by common consensus Freeport will not have a functioning economic model without an airport and, with the existing owners showing little appetite for the necessary investment, the rebuilding task will likely fall upon the Government.

Urging the Government to prioritise the airport among any infrastructure-related stimulus projects designed to support the economy in COVID-19’s aftermath, Mr Gape said: “We don’t want Freeport to be left out in the cold. If we don’t come out of this disaster with any airport, we’re screwed.

“Nassau’s economy is the status quo, and if the Government doesn’t have a new revenue stream how will it pay its debt? If we don’t save Freeport, it will be start to become a drain on the Treasury. We are a drain right now. Do you want a burgeoning 60,000 population or a dying 35,000 population?

“We have the ingredients here to make this work, and give the Government the extra income they need. Fifty thousand hard-working Bahamians is a lot better than what we have got now; 40,000 starving Bahamians.”

Mr Gape suggested that the 2,500 acres at the Sea Air Business Centre could be used to “attract some really new, serious, clean investment” if placed in the right hands. Besides medical marijuana distribution centres, he suggested that The Bahamas could follow the likes of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Texas by developing high-security depositories for assets owned by the wealthy.

“We have a line on companies that would like to do four of them here,” he added.