The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The extension of duty-free incentives beyond the Port area was yesterday cited as critical to Bahamas Striping’s decision to switch its planned $750,000 manufacturing facility from Abaco to Grand Bahama’s West End, a facility that will initially create 15-20 jobs.

Dr Allen Albury, the Bahamas Striping Group of Companies’ (BSGC) managing director, told Tribune Business that Freeport’s existing transhipment capability and Grand Bahama’s existing aggregate supply also helped to seal the cold mix patch plant’s move.

Mr Albury revealed that the company, often viewed as the ‘poster boy’ for the Government’s former Self-Starters initiative, aimed to finalise a site for the proposed plant within a month.

Bahamas Striping’s president, Atario Mitchell, and several other staff will visit Grand Bahama to scout several potential Crown Land sites next week, with the manufacturing facility scheduled to open next year.

Although only in the “embryonic stages” of acquiring the Crown Land, Mr Albury said Bahamas Striping was seeking a five-acre site with an option to expand on adjoining land should it become necessary.

“Grand Bahama offers a number of flexible components,” Mr Albury told Tribune Business. “One of which is the transhipment capability it provides.

“The Government’s extension of duty-free concessions outside the Freeport area was the other incentive. The initial idea was to put the factory in Abaco, but the extension of duty-free concessions outside Freeport, that was something the president asked us to look at.”

Mr Albury added that Mr Mitchell also had family ties to West End, and emphasised that Bahamas Striping would be able to access the same incentives in West End as in Freeport. He said there were no suitable sites available in the Port area.

The proposed plant will manufacture patches for use in road repairs throughout the Bahamas and the Caribbean, providing a value-added product that will cover pot holes and trenches.

Mr Albury revealed that the plant will produce 100 tonnes per day at maximum capacity, and said of Freeport’s transhipment facilities: “It allows us the market access to the rest of the Caribbean.

“That will be the primary reach once we’ve created some penetration into the region. As the regional market opens up and grows, the output for the region will be greater than the domestic consumption as the market is much larger.”

While Bahamas Striping will still import the proprietary binder for the cold mix patches, Mr Albury said the company would source the aggregate - rock pellets - on Grand Bahama, creating spin-off opportunities and employment.

“It is environmentally friendly and does not have any volatile components,” he told Tribune Business of Bahamas Striping’s product. “Some traditional products have toxins that seep into the water table and contaminate over a period of time. This product does not do that.”

Bahamas Striping currently supplies cold mix patches, which is imports, to the likes of the Water & Sewerage Corporation, Airport Authority and Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA). It is also talking to the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC).

Illustrating the demand, Mr Albury said that out of 4,000 bags imported just two weeks ago, only 1,000 were left.

In a release, Bahamas Striping suggested that its local plant would save the Government millions of dollars per year in road repair costs.

“This investment reflects our continued commitment to meeting growing market demands for maintained and safe roads in the Bahamas,” said Mr Mitchell.

“Our ability to produce these products will strengthen our supply reliability as the Government, small contractors, and distributors will be able to purchase cold patch from a local manufacturer.

“The cold patch is a mix of black tar like binder and rock aggregate. Both of these products will repair and rejuvenate hot mix asphalt pavements as well as double tar, sand and seal surfaces commonly found in the Bahamas.”

Obie Wilchcombe, minister of tourism and the West End MP, said: “You don’t want to have a growth of the foreign business and Bahamians are left behind. We have gone through political and social revolutions and the next revolution will be an economic one.

“Bahamians are better educated and exposed to the business world, and they have access to capital which allows them to invest and they will provide an avenue for growth which will be sustainable and we will see a number of Bahamians get employment.”