The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN contractors are losing out to foreign contractors particularly in the second home construction sector according to Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA) president Godfrey Forbes who said ‘that should never be the case.’

Mr Forbes said: “It should never be the case where you have foreign contractors building residential homes in this country. When you look at certain sectors of New Providence and even some of the other family islands, namely Abaco, you have some areas where it is predominately being serviced by foreign contractors and Bahamian contractors are no where around. Right now in the southwest sector of New Providence, in the Lyford Cay and Old Fort Bay areas, you can hardly find Bahamians there they are all predominately foreign contractors.

“If we had some regulations in place whereby there would be licences issued to only Bahamian contractors we wouldn’t have this kind of problem and there would be many more Bahamian contractors that would be doing work and subsequently more Bahamians employed in the construction sector.

“It is a major problem for us. It’s something that needs to be addressed and until we get some kind of regulation in place to govern this thing it’s going to continue to be a problem for us.”

Forbes added: “This has really began to become a problem over the last 10-12 years. Prior to that we had Bahamian contractors out in those areas carrying out all of the work that was being done. I think that you have second home owners who have their contacts and seeing exactly the kind of lax attitude our government may have towards construction in our area, know that they can go ahead and apply for a work permit for some of these people to come in and do work. Some of the foreign contractors we have noted who would have come in under some other major developers may get work with a particular project but when that project would have been concluded are allowed to move from one point to the next.

“Sooner or later you find that they become somewhat entrenched in the construction industry and they now in some cases go to the extent of forming their own companies and start doing business for themselves.

“I think that when you come to major developments as it relates to resorts and major hotels or any other major commercial project that may require some expertise and equipment that our local contractors may not have, then the government should have a dialogue with us and find out if  we have the expertise or manpower. We know that not everything that comes we, as local contractors, are going to be able to deal with as a single contractor,” said Forbes.

BCA immediate past president Stephen Wrinkle has also said that foreign direct investment projects need to come under greater scrutiny as local contractors were not getting their ‘fair share of the pie.’

Wrinkle said: “That’s a weak link because those negotiated things in any heads of agreement need to be monitored and there needs to be good verification. I think to date that’s only been handled through the PM’s office by a very small entity. We would sure like to see FDI projects as a whole get a lot more scrutiny and a lot more participation by people in the industry so that we can verify that our contractors are in fact getting what they say they are getting.”