The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Freeport lost a $1 billion investment “solely” because the Government refused to approve a Business Licence, a leading QC calling on the Government to “stop tying a noose around the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s neck”.

Fred Smith, the Callender’s & Co attorney and partner, addressing a Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce lunch attended by the Port’s co-chairs, Sir Jack Hayward and Sarah St George, called on the duo to “wake up and enforce your rights”.

Referring to the fact that licence approvals by the Port Authority frequently had to also go to Nassau for central government approval, Mr Smith said: “Central government has no business dictating which licences the Port Authority chooses to give or not to give.”

Emphasising that the GBPA should, under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, be the “one-stop shop” for all business licensing in Freeport, Mr Smith recalled how the Government had effectively cost the city a $1 billion investment in liquefied natural gas (LNG) that was proposed by the French energy company, Tractebel.

Implying how that had cost Freeport much-needed jobs and economic growth, Mr Smith said: “LNG, what a gift that would have been to Freeport almost seven-eight years ago. A $1 billion investment.

“That was going to stay in Freeport, create a 25 Mega Watt (MW) power station to put in the ground for Freeport, a new cruise ship terminal for Carnival and the other lines.

“That didn’t happen for the sole reason that the FNM and PLP didn’t give their approval for the licence. What a shame for Freeport.”

And the well-known QC added: “Sir Jack and Sarah [St George] know of other investors who have gone by the wayside because they could not get central government approval.”

Calling for the Government to radically alter its relationship with the GBPA, Mr Smith said it should adopt a posture of ‘mutual respect’, allowing the latter to have the “right and responsibility” for licensing in Freeport, with the proviso that it conducted proper due diligence on applicants and acted as a “good corporate citizen”.

He called on Nassau to stop “tying a noose around the Port Authority’s neck, choking it every time it wishes to do something.”

And Mr Smith also disclosed that the Port Authority was not receiving its annual report from the Government on whether the latter’s costs in running Freeport exceeded the revenues earned from the city, as per the Hawksbill Creek Agreement.

If the Government’s costs exceed the revenues earned, the Port Authority is supposed to cover the difference and pay a surcharge, but since the Hawksbill Creek Agreement was signed in 1955, Freeport has never cost Nassau “a penny”.

Mr Smith argued that the Government received $150-$200 million in revenues from the city annually “even though we’re a Free-port”.

“We are the goose laying the golden eggs for them every year, and yet they still want to mess with us?” Mr Smith asked.

Based on their actions while in government, the noted QC said he believed both political parties - FNM and PLP - wanted to bring an end to the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, end Freeport’s management by the Port Authority and cease the rights and privileges enjoyed by its 3,500 licensees.

“I am satisfied that it is the intention of the Government today, and by extension the FNM in the past, to end the Hawksbill Creek Agreement and bring to an end the benefits enjoyed by licensees,” Mr Smith said.

With the 2013-2014 Budget’s new and increased taxes, which the Grand Bahama Chamber is likely to challenge in the courts via Judicial Review, Mr Smith accused the Christie administration of “doing worse than the FNM did in the previous five years to bring Freeport to its knees”.

He added that the former Ingraham administration did “everything they could to create more problems for us during a recessionary period”, also tinkering with the Customs Management Act and how it impacted Freeport’s bonded economy.