The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie defended the recent sale of the British Colonial Hilton to a Chinese state owned company yesterday and suggested FNM members like former Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette have been hypocritical in their criticism.

Mr Symonette expressed concern to Tribune Business earlier this week about the economic implications of having a state-controlled investor “take over the entire capital.”

Hitting back yesterday, Mr Christie said: “Firstly, I’m surprised at Brent Symonette taking that position because if Brent Symonette is speaking about the Chinese, Brent Symonette’s government gave the Chinese, in a letter in 1994 signed by the prime minister I think at the time, the right to veto every development of any port even outside of Freeport, so even though there are persons wishing to put in another development, Hutchinson Whampoa was given by Brett Symonette’s government the right to say if you (are going to) do it you have to provide payment for it, so if he wants to talk about who has done what and concern about the country’s national interest, that’s where he should start.”

Mr Symonette, as a member of a family that owns real estate and operates businesses on Bay Street, also told Tribune Business this week that he is concerned his family might be railroaded into accepting the plan of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) and “undefined” public-private sector partnerships mentioned previously by Mr Christie.

In response, Mr Christie said anything that happens on Bay Street will require the involvement of investors in the area.

“He knows that any proposal to do anything with respect to Bay Street, must necessarily involve the Symonette family, the Bethel family, the Kelly family, the Klonaris family,” he said. “Those families I have spoken to with respect to that. They have in fact invested in the area, they own property in the area, and anything we do will be predicated on their direct involvement in it.”

As for the increased involvement of the Chinese in the Bahamian economy, Mr Christie said: “The Chinese have entered into an agreement to buy this hotel, just like the Chinese bought the Waldorf Astoria for over $1b in New York where the president of the United States stays. That’s the kind of business hotels are in. When they buy this hotel, their intention is, presumably, either for this hotel to be managed by Hilton or someone of their choosing. What the concern is I have no idea, except to say this: that people who have had the right to their property must expect that a government coming wanting to develop the waterfront, is doing it on the basis that from the time they own the property, people never had access to the waterfront and that the studies we have done, the public studies that we have done, indicated that for the future of the city of Nassau, people should be given access to the waterfront because we have one of the most beautiful waterfronts and that is exactly our intention of our government; but to do it in association with the people who own the development.”

The government announced the sale of the Hilton to the Chinese last week Friday.