The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie said yesterday that he was “not at all happy” with the relationship that currently exists between the Government and Boston based I-Group developers, saying that the Mayaguana development project was not moving fast enough.

Mr Christie suggested that the slow pace of the Mayaguana development project was due largely to the revised agreement between the I-Group headed by businessman Stephen Roy and the Ingraham administration which he said had effectively removed the Government as a partner in the venture.

“For me personally, I’m not at all happy about the relationship that exists today between my government and the I-Group. Clearly the Ingraham government decided, and I thought with extraordinary loss to us, to give 2,500 acres of land to the I-Group in fee simple. We had a joint venture agreement which enabled the government through the Hotel Corporation to be at the table as partners and therefore to cause everything to take place in a timely fashion because we are partners sitting down together. Once the agreement was changed, where they became the owners of the land then one has to wait on them to fulfil the terms of the agreement left in place. It is what it is,” said Mr Christie.

The former administration signed a revised Heads of Agreement for the $1.8 billion Mayaguana-based I-Group project last February. The original deal signed back in 2006 under the former Christie administration was a 50/50 joint venture between the Government, via the Hotel Corporation, and the I-Group, with both parties owning the development project under the umbrella of the Mayaguana Development Company. The original deal included 9,999 acres however under the revised Heads of Agreement for the project, it was scaled back to 5,825 acres with the developers to start with 2,912 acres. The first phase of the I-Group’s Mayaguana development calls the construction of an airstrip to accommodate Dash 8 traffic, an airport terminal, a marina and construction of a 25-room boutique hotel. This phase of the development is anticipated to be an investment of between $24-$32 million. The next phase of the I-Group may see the construction of a $50-$75 million high end luxury resort in Mayaguana.

“They were doing some work in the airport. I’m told by the minister that testing was being done on the airport. As to whether or not the work was being done effectively for an airstrip, there were questions coming out of that and so there is a compelling urgency for the Government of The Bahamas to meet with the I-Group because the government of The Bahamas cannot allow a situation to exist, notwithstanding agreements, where an airport remains unlighted,” said Mr Christie yesterday.