The Tribune

AFTER sitting at the negotiating table into the wee hours of a Beijing morning, the Bahamas government delegation was on its way home last night with little good news of the fate of the $3.5 billion Baha Mar resort.

Left behind still talking were the resort’s developer, its banker and contractor.

Late last night, Baha Mar’s public relations director, Paul Turnquest, said the resort would have no comment on the discussions until they had been concluded.

“Bah Mar’s priority,” he said, “is to achieve a consensual resolution with parties in a timely manner so that the Baha Mar project can move forward to be completed and opened successfully as soon as possible.”

Since the announcement of Baha Mar seeking protection for the resort by filing for Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court of Delaware, there has been much debate about the Prime Minister being “blind-sided” by not being told by developer Sarkis Izmirlian of his plans to declare bankruptcy – and particularly outside of the Bahamas. However, it was made crystal clear to Mr Christie that the resort was in dire straights financially and could not continue without something being done immediately. Surely, the Prime Minister did not expect Mr Izmirlian to stand, arms folded, and do nothing to protect his assets. Mr Izmirlian was also accused of disrespecting the prime minister by taking the resort’s legal problems outside of the jurisdiction of the Bahamas, thus trampling on this country’s sovereignty.

In our opinion, Mr Izmirlian made a sensible decision — the only decision that could have been made under the circumstances. It was a decision that protected the resort, its staff and creditors, and would give it a chance to eventually reorganise and open. At least it was a lifeline that gave hope of survival.

To fully understand this decision, read the article by Robert “Sandy” Sands, SVP of Administration and External Affairs of Baha Mar. It is published on page 14 of today’s edition of The Tribune.

Bahamians want to know whether this had to happen; whether it was a surprise and was chapter 11 in Delaware the appropriate venue as its decision will affect all Bahamians. They want to know if our government is doing the right thing and whether Baha Mar employees will have jobs in the weeks to come.

After reading Mr Sands’ article, Bahamians will be in a better position to answer these questions for themselves.

However, one thing is certain. Construction on Baha Mar has not been completed. No matter who owes money to whom, the general contractor, CCA Bahamas, has not kept to its deadlines to make the opening of the hotel possible.

Whatever has occurred behind the scenes over the past two years, CCA Bahamas has not completed the work it agreed to do.

It’s the Chinese that packed up and left without completing the job. Moreover, unrelated to the chapter 11 process, many Bahamians have seen first-hand how CCA has handled the Baha Mar project.

As an essential condition of the general contractor doing any work, it demanded the import of an incredibly large foreign labour pool of Chinese workers — despite our already high unemployment. Many of our unemployed Bahamians had the skills and could have used the work.

How CCA managed its imported workforce once here has also been an ongoing controversy. How this workforce of Chinese labourers responded to their employer CCA has also been clear – discontent, job walk offs, protests, and other actions – certainly not helpful to the global image of The Bahamas.

In July last year, about 60 Chinese workers, in their orange uniforms, walked all the way from their Cable Beach job site to the Chinese Embassy on east Shirley Street to claim that the CCA had not paid them for six months and they wanted to be repatriated. According to the workers, they had not been paid since the end of 2013. They said when they complained they were threatened. They said they had gone to the Embassy to seek security.

And then there were the much publicised opening dates — first one missed in December, 2014, the next in March and then in May. Dates given by CCA but not delivered on, creating much adverse publicity internationally for the Bahamas.

Most visibly, we see a press release from CCA trumpeting that it has hired lawyers and a Wall Street financier who is known for selling real estate related properties. Does this sound like CCA is trying to work to a consensual resolution with the involved parties or is there a plan afoot to go into Bahamian-style liquidation, which will put the property on the market for speculators to pick it up for a relative pittance?

When asked last night if liquidation was being considered, Mr Christie told our reporter: “The government will always act in the best interest of the people of this country and whenever the government is pursuing a particular end, as it is in negotiations, there is always an alternative and the country must always be in the position to have things moving forward towards a good result for the people of this country, for the staff, for the people who are owed a lot of money.”

If Mr Christie is indeed on the side of Bahamians, which we believe he is, then we suggest he take up the offer made by Bahamian contractors earlier this month.

Stephen Wrinkle, the immediate past Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president, told Tribune Business that the job should be handed to a consortium of local companies, as they were the ones that had “performed and carried” Baha Mar to its current state.

“The Government has not stepped up to the plate and taken that position. What is China Construction America going to do for the Government? Nothing,” Mr Wrinkle told The Tribune.

“Hindsight is 20/20. We are where we are, and need to get that project open and finished. The ripples are being felt throughout our economy, and this could be a catastrophe for our national economic development.

“If this goes to the courts we are going to be in dire straits. Thousands of companies are owed money, and thousands of people are employed. We have got skin in the game, and one that makes us a partner.

“We have not been a very good partner, and in my estimation have left the Izmirlians out to dry. The guy’s 90 per cent there. He’s had some bumps in the road, but it’s a construction project. We can’t duck and hide. It’s the Chinese that packed up and left without completing the job.”

If Mr Christie is indeed on the side of Bahamians, then get Bahamian contractors and their Bahamian staff together and complete the job.