By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
WORKS Minister Philip “Brave” Davis confirmed yesterday that a possible deal is in the works between the government and Baha Mar to pay the $21m owed to the resort to cover the government’s portion of costs for roadwork associated with the development.
The Tribune understands the money is intended to assist Baha Mar in its stalled operations and to help pay the thousands of Bahamians currently on the resort’s payroll.
In an interview outside the Cabinet Office yesterday afternoon Mr Davis, who is also the deputy prime minister, said the dispute over how much the government still owes Baha Mar for the reconfiguration of West Bay Street is out of his hands and has been transferred to the Office of the Prime Minister.
When asked if the transfer means that the government intends to pay the $21m owed to Baha Mar, Mr Davis said: “The Office of the Prime Minister is dealing with that. Yes, a possible deal is in the works. I think so.”
On Tuesday, The Tribune exclusively reported that the Christie administration has agreed to pay the $21m owed to Baha Mar.
According to a well-placed source in the government, half of the $21m will be paid on July 1 and the remainder in “mid July”. However, the source, who spoke on condition on anonymity because the person was not authorised to release the information, said the money will only be paid “if Baha Mar can reach an agreement with China Export-Import Bank”.
The bank is the main financier of the Cable Beach development.
The Christie administration has already paid Baha Mar $28m over the past two years for its share of the re-routed West Bay Street costs.
Under an agreement with the previous Ingraham administration, the government agreed it would pay $48.1m to Baha Mar if the cost to reconfigure West Bay Street exceeded $70m.
If the figure was less than $70m, the government would only be obligated to pay 50 per cent.
Baha Mar officials claim the road re-routing cost $118m, but the government has argued that this work was only valued at $58m.
The government and Baha Mar have been unable to agree on how much money was still owed to Baha Mar since 2013.
The news comes as Prime Minister Perry Christie is embroiled in mediation between Baha Mar and China Export-Import Bank.
Work at the Cable Beach resort has come to a standstill due to a dispute with the developer and the resort’s main contractor, China Construction America (CCA).
Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Perry Christie said he received “encouraging” news about a possible impending resolution to the Baha Mar deadlock.
He said the news would hopefully bring a swift end to the impasse.
Meanwhile, Baha Mar is nearly six months behind its December 2014 opening date and has missed a March 27 soft opening. The property was finally expected to open in early May, but issues with the resort’s main contractor have contributed to continued delays. A new opening date has not been announced.
The resort is expected to hire 5,000 people when it is completely open. In the meantime, around 1,000 employees already working at the resort have been reassigned to areas outside of the positions for which they were hired – such as clean up and security watch.
Last week, Prime Minister Perry Christie acknowledged that the continuing impasse at Baha Mar could result in the resort eventually lacking the capacity to pay the thousands of people currently on its payroll.
Comments
GrassRoot 9 years, 4 months ago
I will only pay the Government my VAT owed, if it uses my money for improving schools in the Bahamas.
lionfish 9 years, 4 months ago
Exactly!
John 9 years, 4 months ago
Baha Mar officials claim the road re-routing cost $118m, but the government has argued that this work was only valued at $58m
So now is the government accepting Bah Mar's claim that the road works cost $118 million? Is this the same Brave Davis that ratted out the former government for budget overruns on roadworks that were more than FIVE times the scope of Bah Mar's re-routing road works? So if Bah Mar's work is $118 million, the FNM government (under Papa) got value for money when it paid $210 for the road workd it did to transform the traffic flow all over New Providence.
TruthHurts 9 years, 4 months ago
Brave those need to stop playing around that's what!!!! I'm so annoyed with this Baha Mar project; it's been more trouble than it is worth! What in the world is going on?? They better not use our monies to sustain this waste of a hotel.
jackflash 9 years, 4 months ago
I heard that when the Chinese workers did not get paid and were sent home without pay that they sabotaged the building in areas that would be very hard to find and once found would be next to impossible to fix without a great deal of work and huge amounts of money. I heard that areas like fire suppression, ventilation and AV were sabotaged in a way that nobody will find out until they start up the systems and have guests in the property. In other words it will work for the tests but after a few days/weeks/months of use things will start to go haywire.
It is no secret that the Chinese do not like to be offended or belittled and they do serious offences to their enemies.
I can only hope that the person who told me this was misinformed.
We all need this property to be a success.
John 9 years, 4 months ago
Remember the words of P. A. Strachan about the stadium and Bah Mar, "it's a curse I tell you so, they should'a never let them Chinese in here to build nuttin. It's a curse on our nation, I say so, it is a curse" So, apparently Curse number 3 is being started West of the Hilton downtown? according to P.A. Strachan.
duppyVAT 9 years, 4 months ago
The Chinese is not a curse ........... they just have different end goals in mind from us ........... we see them as gift-bearing Santa Claus ......... but they are playing a shrew game of geo-politics that is far beyond our ability to compete with .......... my God, they have already hand-cuffed the USA!!!
dani 9 years, 4 months ago
More money, we need more money! thats what they keep saying to their people. We all need more money, but we search for ways to have a good live with less, because no one is giving us more money if we don't do something instead. So, if you want more money, you should do your job, and you will see that you will get more money in the end. http://mooka.ro">Marian
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