The Tribune

WE WELCOME Mr John Issa’s return to the columns of The Tribune from which he has been absent for far too long. Mr Issa, executive chairman of Super Clubs Breezes, has returned to jotting his monthly “View from Afar”, the second column of which appears on page 7 of today’s Tribune.

In his column, Mr Issa welcomes the redevelopment of downtown Bay Street, which we agree is way overdue. Today the once colourful Bay Street is seedy and distressingly unattractive. The further east one goes the more unattractive it becomes with abandoned buildings, badly in need of repair and human occupation. Yes, Bay Street is falling down.

Someone commented recently that it really wasn’t Bay Street, but the type of people who now hustle daily to and fro, often with a drink in their hands that give it that third world look. The lack of parking — spaces reserved for taxis, loading bays and limousines — discourage Bahamians from their favourite downtown shops.

Mr Issa noted that there was some concern about the downtown British Colonial Hilton being purchased by foreign investors, even though the two previous purchasers of the hotel were foreign. He described the new owners as “deep pocket property investors from China.”

Yes, there is concern about the purchasers, not because they are foreign — all of our hotels have been foreign owned. Not even because they are Chinese – a very loyal and respected Chinese community is a part of our Bahamian fabric. The concern is that they are not private investors, but rather a state owned company – China State Construction Engineering Corp of Beijing, China.

The Bahamas is accustomed to dealing with private investors, not state owned companies, which takes on an entirely different complexion, particularly in the political arena when the day will come when loyalty will be demanded for favours granted. It is not a healthy position to be in, particularly when many Bahamians believe that they are just a natural extension of the good old USA. Unfortunately, however, the day will come when on the floor of the UN that loyalty will be tested — USA or China? Some hapless Bahamian politician will have to make the decision or develop a headache and stay home on the day his vote is required.

No one understands this more than Prime Minister Christie who in 2010 when he was in opposition and Baha Mar was being constructed by China State Construction, he reminded then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham “of the consequences of default of the project falling into the hands of a foreign state.”

This was a reference to the financial arrangement between the Izmirlian family and the Chinese Export-Import Bank. Although the 1,000 acre Baha Mar resort is owned by the Izmirlians, it is the Chinese Export-Import Bank that provided the $2.5 billion financing with China State Construction & Engineering as the contractor.

Mr Christie, then in Opposition, was warning Prime Minister Ingraham: Should the Izmirlians default, 1,000 acres of the Bahamas will be owned by China.

It seems that politicians always have 20/20 vision when they are in opposition.

Apparently Mr Christie needs to be reminded of his own warning.

In his column Mr Issa recalls that a Bay Street redevelopment committee had been in place for sometime, but its “progress appears to be quite slow.”

This is true. It has been slow because, unlike the Chinese, the Bay Street property owners have not been able to get the same attention from their Prime Minister. In October last year former deputy prime minister Brent Symonette told Neil Hartnell, our business editor, that the Prime Minister was effectively telling Bay Street stakeholders “to get on board or get out of the way” over the Chinese plans to redevelop downtown Nassau.

Mr Symonette complained that the Chinese receive instant answers and the “red carpet treatment” from the Christie administration, while Bahamian investors – such as himself – had been waiting for the same answers for 30 years.

At the time, Mr Symonette questioned whether the government was engaged in “social re-engineering” to change long-standing property ownership in the downtown area. Mr Symonette also expressed concern about the economic implications if one investor - especially one that is state-controlled - “takes over the entire capital”.

That was four months ago. Many of the Bahamian Bay Street owners are even more concerned as they see work already started on the British Colonial’s beach on the western esplanade and wonder how in a matter of a few months permits could have been issued, the required environmental impact studies done and all the paper work seemingly completed for the redevelopment of the hotel and probably the whole of Bay Street while they — the property owners stand on the sidelines, completely in the dark.

At last month’s Business Outlook Conference Mr Daniel Liu, China Construction Company’s senior vice president, said he envisaged a public-private partnership involving the government and existing Bay Street property owners.

Bay Street is in desperate need of a rescue, but it is unfair how persons who have a vested interest in this development are being kept in the dark — Bahamians who for generations have owned these properties.

The Bahamian people are also entitled to know what the plans are for downtown — after all this is still their country.

As a result of all this secrecy and the rush to push through various projects, a hair brain rumour is gaining traction that all this rush is gearing up to an October 13 election — not next year or the year after — but this year. The theories are intriguing, but we shan’t delve into them this time. However, those putting the jigsaw puzzle together won’t budge from the October 13, 2015 date. We shall wait and see.