The Tribune

• Gold Rock principals get no Immigration reply

• Three applications made; last one in 2019

• Gov’t presses GBPA to get Del Zottos back

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The US family battling the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) has cause for further Bahamian frustration - the Government’s failure to process three separate permanent residency applications despite their $41m investment in this nation.

The Del Zotto family, which is closing down its Gold Rock concrete manufacturing operation and all other Freeport-based business interests with the loss of 130 jobs, made its last application to the Immigration Department for such status almost three years ago under the former Minnis administration.

Well-placed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, told Tribune Business the submission had not even merited a response from Immigration. With the Davis administration keen to keep the Del Zottos in Freeport despite the impasse with the GBPA and its subsidiaries, they suggested significant goodwill could be created if the Government were to finally move on the permanent residency application. 

“They never had a response in three years,” one source said of the Del Zottos’ last application. “And this was at least their second, and probably third, application. That’s par for the course. They treat everybody that way - both governments. It shows you how the Government treats the applications and the investors.  

“The Prime Minister is all up in arms, but the Government has not been treating people well either. How could the Government say [to the GBPA] how you treat these poor people so badly and they didn’t even take care of them themselves. I would have thought that if Brave wanted to bring them back he’d just send them a letter approving it, and then they could start having a conversation.”

The family’s last permanent residency application, seeking such status for Laura Del Zotto and her six adult children, was submitted to the Immigration Department by the Dupuch & Turnquest law firm on September 24, 2019, with copies also addressed to then-prime minister, Dr Hubert Minnis, and former minister with responsibility for Immigration, Elsworth Johnson.

Describing the family as “significant investors” in The Bahamas, and all currently possessing work permits, the application said the Del Zottos had collectively invested $41m in commercial ventures and residential real estate in the Freeport area. Besides Gold Rock, the concrete block and ready-mix concrete producer, they also owned and operated the Home Design Centre and Do It Centre, furniture and home and hardware businesses, respectively.

“The value of the aforementioned commercial investment exceeds $35m,” Dupuch & Turnquest wrote. “We also confirm that the applicants are also investors in residential real estate whose value exceeds $6m.... The applicants have created significant employment for persons residing in Grand Bahama and, by extension, other citizens and/or residents within The Bahamas.”

This amounted to more than 100 direct jobs, the Bahamian law firm wrote, adding that Gold Rock provided specific skills training for its staff in construction materials management and pre-cast concrete technology. “These individuals are cross-trained at the applicant’s US headquarters, where a significant amount of time is spent in real time application/experience and the Bahamian trainees are returned to The Bahamas to implement the training received,” the application said.

“The applicants have been instrumental in providing concrete solutions for the Government of The Bahamas during the New Providence Road Improvement Project and airport development project at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) and Baha Mar, together with all large resort residential projects throughout The Bahamas.

“Gold Rock Corporation has produced and sold in The Bahamas hundreds of millions of dollars of products with the Government of The Bahamas being a major client. It would be useful to note that Gold Rock produces and sells the vast majority of concrete blocks and products (greater than 60 percent of the market) as the foundation of all worthwhile and code compliant structures in the hurricane-prone Bahamas.”

Dupuch & Turnquest said its clients “will be instrumental in the rebuilding of the Abacos and Grand Bahama” following Hurricane Dorian, given the pre-cast concrete structures that Gold Rock manufactures for major road and infrastructure projects such as storm drains and culverts. The application added that the Del Zottos “remain committed to The Bahamas” and would initiate efforts to drive the post-Dorian reconstruction, although it is unclear if this actually happened.

No reasons were given for why the Del Zotto’s application has yet to receive any action by the Immigration Department, and this newspaper was told that a May 21, 2020, follow-up letter from Dupuch & Turnquest - which it has also seen - also elicited no response. Tribune Business was told that it reflects the frustration and delay endured by many major investors in seeking to obtain permanent residency and other Immigration-related approvals.

The Government, meanwhile, is understood to be using the Gold Rock situation as leverage to further increase the pressure on the GBPA, its management and owners, namely the Hayward and St George families. It was suggested that this prompted Freeport’s quasi-governmental regulator to issue the recent conciliatory statement that its “door remains open” to addressing the Del Zottos’ concerns and bringing them back to Grand Bahama.

The statement marked a major change in tone from the harsh rhetoric employed by the GBPA’s Grand Bahama Development Company (DevCO) affiliate in their escalating verbal battle with Gold Rock. “The Government is trying to get them back. The Government has told the Port to do whatever it takes to get them back,” a source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The Port Authority last week offered them a meeting with Henry and Sarah St George. The Del Zottos have responded to say they’ll meet any time they want, but they have to come up to Florida to have that meeting. That’s where they are. I don’t think the Del Zottos are interested in coming back. They’ve made up their minds. But if they did come back, and say this is what they want, they’ll get it because the Government will force the Port to do it.”

The battle between Gold Rock and the Del Zottos on one side, and the GBPA and DevCO on the other, seemingly erupted after the latter sought to renegotiate the terms of an expired deal with the concrete manufacturer that gave it a monopoly over the aggregate in its Devonshire subdivision.

DevCO argued that it could not in good conscience exclude Gold Rock’s rivals and competitors from access to the same aggregate source, especially since it had failed to take the minimum amount stipulated under the previous deal. However, Gold Rock countered that there was insufficient demand for its product as a result of the GBPA’s failure to revive Freeport’s economy, and it thus made no commercial sense to take the minimum amount.

“The Del Zottos said they could only take what they could use. The economy was dead: How much can you take?” a source added. They suggested that the family felt “they were no longer the golden boys” and had been “cut out of the Carnival cruise port”, with competition on the island increasing significantly through the arrival of Bahamas Hot Mix’s ready-mix concrete business and Freeport Aggregate set to resume operations.

Leonard Sands, the Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president, recently told this newspaper that only major infrastructure projects will feel the impact from Gold Rock’s closure, and that this was likely to be short-term because competitors would soon move to full the lucrative void given the major development projects in the investment pipeline.

Another contact, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the Del Zottos: “I think they’ve had enough. They see no future in Freeport. They can afford to go. They’re doing the country a favour by being there. Capital must be welcome where it wants to go, and be treated well when it’s here. Why would any investor come here? What’s the point? This is a big signal.”

The Del Zottos have extensive business interests in the US, including in Florida, Michigan and California, as well as in Europe.