The Tribune

By CELESTE NIXON

Tribune Staff Reporter

cnixon@tribunemedia.net

IN THE House of Assembly yesterday, State Minister for Finance Zhivargo Laing tabled the amended Heads of Agreement between the government and Mayaguana Island Developers Limited for a development project on that island.

With the signing of the new HOA, the government will recover 5,825 acres of land from the original deal, signed under the PLP.

He said: "This is a proud day for all of the people of Mayaguana, past, present and future. Indeed, it is a proud day for the people of the Bahamas."

According to Mr Laing, under the original HOA, signed in 2006, the developer was granted 9,999 acres of the "best prime land and beaches" - almost 25 per cent of Mayaguana's total land mass.

Of this, 5,525 acres were conveyed to Mayaguana Island Developers Limited (MID), with the government as a 50 per cent share holder.

The rest of the land was to be conveyed following the completion of various commitments under the agreement, he said.

Mr Laing said: "The opposition, in one of the greatest sell-outs ever of Bahamian patrimony, gave away cheaply and with few built-in protections, nearly 10,000 acres of the best prime land and beaches to a foreign interest.

"We could not allow the sale of so significant and strategic a portion of the land on one of the largest islands in the Bahamas without an effort to negotiate its return."

Under the revised agreement, MID will receive 2,912 acres of land for its initial phase, and has the option of acquiring another 2,913 acres maximum in a series of nine options, once certain conditions are met.

For example, Mr Laing said, one of the conditions for further land acquisition is the construction of a new airport terminal within the first six months of signing the agreement.

Mr Laing noted that the land that can be acquired under the nine options is not the same as under the original agreement, as certain plots were "taken off the table" because their sale would have "ring-fenced" Mayaguana residents into the middle of the island, or because they were considered environmentally sensitive areas, such as Curtis Creek, which is a turtle nesting ground.

He said: "Development is a careful dance between the resources of the state and the people for whom the land exists, for whom it is home.

"Development is also a delicate balance between the needs of the present generation and those of future generations."