The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis last night expressed “deep concern” over the “failure” of Baha Mar and Chinese officials to reach a satisfactory agreement on the fate of the project, and called for the relevant parties to negotiate an “out of court” settlement of their disputes to ensure the successful completion of the resort.

During a televised national address on the Baha Mar crisis last night, Dr Minnis called for a “negotiated agreement” rather than litigation to “recognise and respect the rights and legitimate interests of the key parties” as well as allow the developer to “speedily take control of the process”.

Dr Minnis also called for Prime Minister Perry Christie to explain the “full ramifications” of the government’s decision to take the fate of the stalled $3.5b project out of the hands of its developer Sarkis Izmirlian and put it under the supervision of the Bahamian court system and provisional liquidators.

Dr Minnis also urged Mr Christie to “mobilise the resources of our government” to ensure that children of Baha Mar employees are not negatively affected in their ability enrol in and attend school in the upcoming semester in light of Baha Mar’s crisis.

Ultimately though, Dr Minnis said the Baha Mar debacle is a “teachable moment” for the country. He said the Bahamas must limit its dependence on mega anchor projects to sustain and grow the economy.

“We, the opposition Free National Movement, urge all parties to do their utmost to negotiate an out of court settlement of their disputes,” Dr Minnis said. “A negotiated agreement would recognise and respect the rights and legitimate interests of the key parties, including the Bahamas government, and the Bahamian people. It would also allow the developer to speedily take control of the process, and, to work with the other key stakeholders to prepare a strategic and workable roadmap for the completion and opening of the resort in the shortest possible time.”

He added: “Thousands of Bahamians, who are depending on the opening of Baha Mar to earn a decent living, and to be able to send their children to school, and to improve their quality of life will lose the opportunity to do so. It is for these reasons that we implore the parties to continue working together, to resolve their disputes by mediation rather than litigation through the courts.”

On June 29, in a move which came “without notice” to the government, Baha Mar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US, blaming its general contractor for its opening delays.

Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson recently led a delegation to Beijing, China to meet with Baha Mar executives, the China State Construction Engineering Corporation and the Export-Import Bank of China for discussions to hopefully secure a deal out of court to open the resort.

Those talks fell through, however, primarily due to Baha Mar requesting an exorbitant sum to complete construction and begin operations while refusing to drop its bankruptcy filing and lawsuits against its general contractor, the government said.

Then, in a move that Dr Minnis yesterday acknowledged was to “protect the interest of the Bahamian people,” Mr Christie announced last Thursday that the government had filed a winding up petition in the Supreme Court to take the fate of the project out of Mr Izmirlian’s hands and put it under the supervision of the Bahamian court system and provisional liquidators.

While he said he respected the government’s decision, Dr Minnis called on Mr Christie to explain the consequences of the winding up process to the Bahamian people.

“How long is the process expected to take?” Dr Minnis asked. “When is it likely that the resort will finally be opened? How will Bahamian jobs be protected in the interim? Will any jobs be negatively impacted during, or after the liquidation process?”

He added: “We, the (FNM), urge the prime minister to mobilise the resources of our government, to ensure that the children of employees of Baha Mar are not negatively impacted in their ability to enrol in, and attend school. The Ministry of Education, the Department of Social Services and all available government resources ought to be involved in protecting the future of our children.”

Dr Minnis said a lot should be learned from the Baha Mar controversy.

“The compelling and urgent lesson is that, the time has come for us to decrease our dependence on mega anchor projects to sustain and grow our economy,” he said. “It is time for us to look within ourselves for solutions to jumpstart our economy, and empower our citizens.

“To build a new and better Bahamas, we must employ strategies that will make us less reliant on direct foreign investment. We must create more opportunities for ordinary Bahamians to own more of our economy, and we must empower more Bahamians to own, and drive economic development in our own country.”