The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

MIAMI - The Arawak Port Development Company’s (APD) chief executive said yesterday it would be a “beautiful thing” if the company could ultimately expand its operations beyond ports and shipping.

Michael Maura, who was speaking as a panelist at the KPMG 2015 Island Infrastructure Summit, said: “If we could sort of turn the clock back and do it again; we spent most of our time building a port that was going to be efficient and was going to deliver real results and benefits to our port user community on day one.

“What we should have done is built in some form of growth strategies in terms of what happens to the company after we’re operational: What opportunities are out there; what sort of things is the Government is willing to partner with us on to expand the operating capability of the company?

“At the end of the day it would be a beautiful thing if the port company could go beyond just shipping and was involved in land development and so forth.” This, he suggested, could ultimately lead to reduced tariffs.

APD Ltd, which was formed in 2009, is the owner and operator of the 56.6 acre Nassau Container Port and the 15-acre Gladstone Freight Terminal. APD has a 20-year port operation exclusivity agreement with the Government as well as a 45-year lease on the property.

Mr Maura said the Arawak Cay port development has been a tremendous financial benefit to the country.

“After this deal was done, yes the Government put up 50 per cent of the equity initially, which went down 40 per cent,” he said.

“The Government now takes 25 cents off every dollar, so this has been a huge financial benefit to the country; to the Public Treasury.”

In terms of lessons learned, Mr Maura added: “The big one is that you have to have acceptance at the Government level on both sides of the aisle.

“That is critical with this type of project because the reality is if the port is going to survive, you need to make sure it makes sense to the people, the nation, and goes beyond politics.”