The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Grand Bahama Port Authority has insisted that its rights under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement “must be respected” and can be changed only by agreement, after Prime Minister Philip Davis declared that whether Freeport’s governance changes was no longer up for negotiation.

The GBPA also said much of what Mr Davis announced on Wednesday night had not been shared with it beforehand, and that it needed time to study the proposals before giving a full response.

“The Port Authority and its licensees hold rights under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. Those rights must be respected,” the GBPA said in a statement yesterday. “Any proposal to relinquish or vary them must be approached through agreement and demonstrate clear benefits for the local stakeholders whose interests they protect.”

Mr Davis spoke at the Grand Bahama Shipyard as the government published a Green Paper on the island’s future. “The present way of governing Freeport will come to an end,” he said. He said he was prepared to discuss the pace of reform but not whether it would happen, and that a private veto was unacceptable.

“Whether we change is settled. How we change is yours to shape,” he said.

The Hawksbill Creek Agreement was signed in 1955 between the colonial government and the Port Authority, and runs until 2054. In exchange for tax exemptions, it gave the privately owned company powers over the Port Area that elsewhere in The Bahamas belong to government, including who may do business there, who may build and how land is planned. The GBPA is jointly owned by the St George and Hayward families.

Mr Davis said of the arrangement: “It is colonial in origin. It is colonial in character. It is unacceptable, and it has outlived its time.”

In its response, the Port Authority said the agreement was “never intended to remain static” throughout its 99-year term. It said amendments were agreed in 1960 and 1966 through collaboration between the government of the day and the Port Authority. “That same spirit of cooperation should guide us today,” it said.

The GBPA described the proposed six-month timeframe as ‘ambitious.’ Formal public consultation on the Green Paper runs from November 1 to April 30, 2027, with public meetings in Freeport, East Grand Bahama and West Grand Bahama. A White Paper is due on July 1, 2027, and draft legislation by December 31, 2027. The government aims to pass the new law in the first quarter of 2028.

The Green Paper proposes three reforms. The first is a government-led Grand Bahama Development Council. The second is a review of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, directed by Attorney General Wayne Munroe KC and leading to amendments. The third is a Grand Bahama Development Act, which would create a legal framework for the whole island and offer investment concessions both inside and outside the Port Area.

The Port Authority warned that the island’s recovery was fragile and urged care not to create further uncertainty for existing businesses and prospective investors.

“After many setbacks, Grand Bahama is beginning to see renewed hope and opportunity,” it said. “Behind every investment decision are livelihoods, employment opportunities and commitments to Grand Bahama’s future.”

The GBPA said it had long pushed for a modern regulatory framework that would make it easier to do business and make Freeport competitive internationally. It said licensees, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce, the Freeport Industrial Group, local businesses and residents must have a meaningful role in shaping what comes next, through consultation that lets them meet, be heard and influence the outcome. It said it had always recognised an important role for central government, but called for “a measure of decentralisation from Nassau” so that decisions reflect local needs.

Despite the gulf over whether its consent is required, the GBPA said it welcomed the chance to engage constructively with the government and would make every effort to work with it and the wider community.

On Wednesday, Mr Davis said the change would be made lawfully through Parliament and that “nothing will be done retrospectively”. He said licensees’ lawful rights would be identified, recorded and respected. He said the agreement could not simply be removed by decree because it is made up of contracts, statutes and concessions, including at least six later Acts of Parliament. He invited the Port Authority, its shareholders and staff to take part, saying the company could have a future as a landowner, developer, investor and partner.

The clash follows an international arbitration. In a partial award on February 27, the tribunal dismissed the government’s $357m claim against the Port Authority for administrative costs, and rejected seven of the GBPA’s eight counterclaims. The government says the award undermines any claim by the Port Authority to a permanent regulatory franchise beyond national law. The GBPA disputes that reading.

In the bitter exchanges that followed the ruling in March, GBPA co-chairman Rupert Hayward said it was hurtful to see his family portrayed as opposing Bahamian sovereignty. “I am not a ‘paper Bahamian’,” he said. He also said: “The Grand Bahama Port Authority is not going anywhere, and the Government of The Bahamas is not going anywhere.”

Mr Davis replied: “Both will remain. What is changing is the framework within which we coexist.”

The Green Paper sets out the island’s decline. Stopover visitors fell from 587,250 in 1995 to 101,077 last year, and Grand Bahama’s population fell by 9 percent between 2010 and 2022, to 46,740.