The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Opposition politicians are questioning “how the hell” the budget for Potter’s Cay’s upgrade has increased four-fold, while expressing concerns over whether Bahamian taxpayers will get a return on their investment (ROI).

K P Turnquest, the FNM’s finance spokesman, told Tribune Business that the Government’s capital works projects have “to make sense”, especially those involving income-producing assets such as Potter’s Cay.

He was speaking after the Government last week confirmed that the budget for upgrading the Cay’s docking facilities and infrastructure, plus vendor stalls, had jumped from $3.1 million to $12 million - and possibly more, if vendors are compensated for loss of income due to the construction works.

The Christie administration was forced to issue a clarification, after V Alfred Gray, minister of agriculture and fisheries, divulged that his Ministry would be spending $9 million to enhance vendor facilities at Potter’s Cay.

This cost for this element of the project had never been disclosed before, with many assuming changes to the vendor stalls were factored into the Ministry of Transport and Aviation’s $3.1 million infrastructure budget.

The Government, though, has now made clear there are two separate aspects to the Potter’s Cay upgrade, although it is unclear where the $9 million referred to by Mr Gray is coming from.

A Tribune Business review of the 2016-2017 Budget shows that the Potter’s Cay project has not been budgeted for as a specific line item, either in the recurrent side or among the capital works.

It is possible that the funds may be included among the Ministry of Works’ $124 million capital budget, but no line item is devoted to it.

And the $9 million disclosed by Mr Gray is equivalent to 31.2 per cent of the approved 2016-2017 recurrent spending for his ministry, plus the departments of agriculture and marine resources, combined.

Stripping out the two departments would bring the proposed Potter’s Cay expenditure close to 50 per cent of the entire annual Budget for Mr Gray’s ministry, making it virtually impossible for the Government to be repurposing some of these funds.

Mr Gray did not return Tribune Business’s call seeking comment yesterday, despite a message being left on his mobile phone.

But given the figures announced to-date, Mr Turnquest questioned the value of the annual Budget exercise, and having Parliament approve the Government’s fiscal plans, if the executive was then going to spend as it deemed fit.

“It seems to me they’re making it up as they go along. How did we get from $3 million to $12 million? It’s a hell of a jump. Do we have a proper plan, or are they going by the seat of their plans?” the FNM’s deputy leader told Tribune Business.

Calling for the Government to fully disclose the plans and spending estimates for the Potter’s Cay upgrades, Mr Turnquest said the details released so far epitomised how the ‘grand visions’ of politicians frequently created trouble for the Bahamian taxpayer.

“This is the kind of development that we’ve been doing in this country for years, and it has gotten us into problems,” he added.

“Somebody likes a plan, wants to improve something, and builds an elaborate building without any consideration of how to pay for it. We’ve got to give more consideration for return on investment (ROI).”

Mr Turnquest continued: “If we’re building a social institution, like a school, it’s not such a big consideration, but if we’re constructing some economic activity that’s fee-based, there should be some correlation between the Bahamian people investing money and the return.

“At the end of the day, we don’t want to invest in entities that cost us. We want to invest in entities that help the Bahamian people become self-sufficient.”

Mr Turnquest emphasised that he was not ignoring the needs of Potter’s Cay vendors, and agreed that the area needed to be overhauled and upgraded.

His main concern, he explained, was to ensure that any project made sense for all stakeholders - vendors and the Bahamian taxpayer.

As a result, the Opposition’s deputy leader questioned whether an outlay of $9 million made sense, especially given Mr Gray’s suggestion that many vendors were not paying current lease fees as low as $42 per month.

This was despite the minister’s suggestion that some were earning up to $90,000-$123,000 per annum, which raises immediate questions as to whether the taxpayers - via the Government - will be able to recover their investment from lease payments.

“Any project that the Government invests in of a fee or revenue-based nature, I would expect that the lease payments would be reflective of a reasonable rate of return to the Bahamian people,” Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business.

“If the vendors can only afford $42 per month, you would build in a manner that gives you a return on investment in three, five, seven years etc.”

Although the Government has yet to approve the designs and plans before it for Potter’s Cay, Mr Turnquest said that unless the new vendor stalls were concrete structures, the $9 million “is going to be a hell of a stretch”.

“How do we get there without coming back to Parliament for supplementary expenditure and borrowing,” he asked. “We’ll certainly be calling on the Government to show us where the approval in the Budget is for this to be done.

“If they’re going to disregard us and, on the fly, decide to spend $9 million or whatever it is, what is the purpose of bringing the Budget to Parliament.

“Nobody is saying the vendors don’t deserve a first class facility, but it’s a matter of how much we can afford.”

Mr Turnquest added that the Potter’s Cay upgrades were also coinciding with a time when the Government was being urged, both domestically and internationally, to rein in its spending and bring down the fiscal deficit.

Branville McCartney, the Democratic National Alliance’s leader, told Tribune Business that the newly-revealed budget for the Potter’s Cay upgrades again highlighted the Christie administration’s “lack of transparency and accountability”.

He said the situation reminded him of the “tremendous amount of money” spent by the former Ingraham administration on the Saunders Beach bathrooms, plus the dormitories at the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI).

Pointing out that the Government had yet to give an accounting for the monies it had spent on Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival this year, Mr McCartney said: “They just don’t seem to make the proper financial or business decisions when it comes down to the people’s money.”

He also suggested that it was no coincidence that an expanded Potter’s Cay investment was being talked about with a general election fast approaching.