Prime Minister Perry Christie speaks to the media yesterday at the Sheraton Hotel after the tour of the Baha Mar site.
By DANA SMITH
dsmith@tribunemedia.net
THE level of Bahamian involvement in the still under-construction Baha Mar resort is one concern Prime Minister Perry Christie and his Cabinet want hotel executives to address.
The multi-billion dollar resort complex currently has 800 foreign workers in comparison to nearly 1,700 job opportunities for Bahamians, according to the company's senior vice-president of government and external affairs, Robert Sands.
Yesterday, government officials attended a closed meeting at the Sheraton Hotel hosted by Baha Mar executives where they discussed the ongoing construction, the much scrutinised Cable Beach restoration project, ongoing roadworks and other issues.
Speaking to the press prior to a tour of the construction site, Mr Christie emphasised the importance of government collaboration with the company, and the need for more Bahamian workers on site.
"An enterprise of this kind - a multi-billion dollar development - requires the developers and the government to be in partnership," he said. "This development proposes to have the government spend a lot of money - many, many, many millions of dollars in pursuit of enforcing, interpreting and actually implementing the agreements signed with Baha Mar and the government.
"Marketing for example, a huge sum of money is to be expended. Therefore the first order of business is that we impress upon the developers the need for very close co-operation and collaboration - that's important."
Mr Christie explained the government wants to be satisfied it is being "closely consulted" on decisions made with respect to marketing and that as many Bahamians as possible are being employed.
He said while in opposition, the PLP met with various unions to discuss "training and involvement of Bahamians" at Baha Mar.
"Therefore we are in a position now to say as the governing party we want to see a full implementation of all that we said that should happen here," Mr Christie said.
"What we want to do is maximise the involvement of Bahamians in the projects - either contractors or workers - and also to ensure that we are fully consulted at the table so that the projects could proceed in a spirit of partnership."
Senior vice president Mr Sands told the press the resort does not need any more financial assistance from government, and said he recognises the concerns of the Prime Minister.
"We advised the government today that Baha Mar has created to date close to 1,700 job opportunities for Bahamians and we currently have approximately 1,000 expatriate work permits - of that we have 800 Chinese on site," Mr Sands said. "The government did say that they would wish for Baha Mar to find additional ways to improve the number of Bahamians and we hear them loud and clear."
Mr Sands also said that so far, $130 million in contracts has been awarded to Bahamian companies.
Baha Mar is on budget and on schedule to be completed by December 2014 with a new floor constructed approximately every ten to 12 days, according to Mr Sands.
A new highway to connect West Bay Street to John F Kennedy Drive will be opened by September, just in time for the closure of a portion of Skyline Drive to accommodate Baha Mar's golf course.
Mr Sands told the press more information concerning the closure will become available in July through public service announcements.
Also in September, the restoration of Cable Beach will begin. The project will see a stretch of beach restored from Goodman's Bay to the Baha Mar resort.
The Wyndham Hotel will be demolished by the end of the year, Mr Sands said.
Comments
carlh57 12 years, 5 months ago
So, just to remind myself, who owns baha mar and the construction going on there? Is it the government now? The Bahamian Government seem to easily forget that if they make it too hard for businesses to do business here, people will leave. Or not come at all and go places where governments make it easy to do business. Oh, wait...that's already happening! Other nations in the Caribbean are keeping arms open to business and stealing business from the Bahamas. My take on Bahamians and their government is they are short sighted, politically immature and lack business experience. That's why this country will ALWAYS be a 2nd rate, 3 world nation.
carlh57 12 years, 5 months ago
If there were more educated qualified bahamians that could do the work, Baha Mar could/would probably hire them....but when you have under-skilled, ill trained and educated people, companies are forced to hire others. So get your education, expectation from workers and level of service up and maybe, just maybe you can compete on an international basis. Until then, be glad you have forced companies to hire your people.....i'll never hire bahamians to work for my company for sure!!
nationbuilder 12 years, 5 months ago
The Prime Minister of The Bahamas is telling foreigners they need to hire more Bahamians, when the Bahamas Government which he leads is putting scores of Bahamians on the unemployment line. The hypocrisy is scandalous.
concernedcitizen 12 years, 5 months ago
THIS IS PURE POSTURING ,THE DEAL IS DONE BAHA MAR IS TOO BIG FOR PM PGC TO DICTATE TO ,,THEY WILL GET THE PERMITS THEY NEED AND THE LABOUR THEY NEED ...THEY ,LL HIRE A FEW PLP CRONIES AND GIVE SOME RELATIVES A FEW CONTRACTS TO KKEP THE WHEELS GREASED,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,NUFF SAID
pfunkf 12 years, 5 months ago
judging from the photo,what we have here is christie,wilgcombe and company desperately trying to fake their way through.any gimmic to get on the evening news.obie know well how to play the game and now with zns again at his disposal we can expect to see much more of these childish performances.they have to create an image for christie who up too now has not done anything substantial since coming back to the job.all the major negotiation on all the major projects in progress have been completed for the past two to three years by hubert ingraham, christie really should stop faking.he looks pathetic.it begs the question of who is pulling the strings behind this puppet.
concernedcitizen 12 years, 5 months ago
HE SHOULD JUST MAKE A PUPPET OF HIM STICKING OUT THE SUNROOF OF A LIMO AND HAVE IT DRIVEN CONTINUALLY TO ALL THE PROJECTS AND THINGS HAI DID WITH A LOUD SPEAKER BLASTING BAHAMIANS FIRST ,,THE HARBOR ,THE PORT ,THE HOSPITAL ,THE ROADS ,THE STRAW MARKET, CWC , BAHA MAR FINALIZED ,,THE LIMO SHOULD RUN ON A 24 HOUR LOOP AND HE COULD PUT 6 MORE POLICE MEN TO DO THE DRIVING,,,,EVERY ONCE AND AWHILE LET BELL FIRE A FEW SHOTS FROM THE LIMO TO SHOW WE ARE SERIOUS ABOUT CRIME
maryann 12 years, 5 months ago
What happen with reference to speaking out for the people whom had a job working at the Urban Renewal offices in Nassau and Freeport Honorable Prime Minister? they are Bahamians too .remember you slogan "BELIEVE IN BAHAMAINS' or is it only PLP"s who are considered to be Bahanians
concernedcitizen 12 years, 5 months ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
242 12 years, 5 months ago
lol u were right
nortongaming 12 years, 5 months ago
I have concerns about some of the decisions being made for the Baha Mar project. It sounds great to build a completely new 5 star project on Cable Beach. But what about Atlantis and its recent financial difficulties. When we first opened Paradise Island and the Bridge in 1967, we had a variety of price points. The Beach Inn, Flagler Hotel, Paradise Island Hotel and the most upscale Ocean Club, to which we added the Britannia Beach in 1968. These different type facilities offered us the opportunity to attract many different market segments. When Baha Mar acquired the Nassau Beach, Emerald Beach and Wyndham Hotel from the Bahamas Government, they had the potential to renovate the facilities. But what was the rationale to demolish the older properties? Any Bahamas resort will need lower priced accommodations when demand is diminished, most of the year? Bahamas hotels enjoy their peak during the Christmas-New Years holidays and reaches a second period of strong demand in mid February. But the room rates drop substantially after Easter and remain low for at least 8 months of the year. And during these slow periods, we must attract conventions and are in competition with many other destinations that don't have the Bahamas' benefit of warm winters to temp the more affluent North American traveler. I totally agree that the rooms around the new casino and entertainment center should be equal or better to Atlantis' best; but why have them all at this level. It seems like a second coming of the Atlantis bankruptcy. I would rather see some of the extra capital put into a light rail service to tie all of the Cable Beach hotels to the new casino and the golf center. And make the public space around the casino all inclusive, with several entertainment options, including a meaningful theater, multiple dining options and retail. And I would further recommend that the other hotels owned by Baha Mar only have restaurant service in a coffee shop, at the pool/ beach area and for room service. The rest should be at the casino/ entertainment center, where all guests in Cable Beach accommodations should be allowed to charge their dinner/ entertainment bills back to their own hotel. (We had inter charge policies in place on Paradise Island in the 1970).
carlh57 12 years, 5 months ago
recent article in same paper titled: Baha Mar awards $150M in contracts to locals. Humm, lets see now...looks like they are making good attempt at hiring bahamians. Problem is there aren't enough QUALIFIED Bahamians....
santos 11 years, 7 months ago
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