The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An ex-Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA) president yesterday slammed the “arbitrary” justification for granting 400-500 Chinese work permits at The Pointe, and questioned who would ensure Bahamians comprised 70 per cent of the workforce.

Stephen Wrinkle told Tribune Business that the Heads of Agreement’s assertion about Bahamian construction workers lacking expertise on ‘high rise structures’ was “untrue and unproven”.

The Heads of Agreement for the downtown Nassau project adjacent to the British Colonial Hilton, tabled in Parliament yesterday, granted China Construction America (CCA) between 400-500 work permits for the $200 million development.

The deal, dated June 18, 2015, stipulated that Bahamians would comprise 70 per cent of the total construction workforce, once those employed by local sub-contractors were included in the calculation.

And Bahamian sub-contractors were supposed to receive “approximately 40 per cent of development work.... in various classifications”, although these were not listed.

Mr Wrinkle, though, questioned how the Government would ensure CCA adhered to these ratios, pointing to the BCA’s long-standing concerns about the seeming inability of public sector agencies to monitor what is happening on foreign direct investment (FDI) projects.

The ex-BCA president again argued that the development model presented by The Pointe’s Heads of Agreement was “not a working formula” conducive to national development and that of individual Bahamians.

Mr Wrinkle focused in particular on the reference to ‘high rise structures’ in the Heads of Agreement, which likely alludes to The Pointe’s now-completed parking garage and eight-storey condominium hotel.

“The developer shall make every effort to fill as many jobs as possible with Bahamian citizens,” states the agreement between the Christie administration and CCA.

“The Government recognises, however, that due to the development of the proposed high-rise structures and the tight schedule to complete the development, non-Bahamian labour with special skills and expertise that are not readily available in the Bahamas will be required.

“To this end, the Government agrees to facilitate the grant of between 400 and 500 work permits to qualified persons on a short-term or longer basis, depending on the job classification and the ability of [CCA] to find and/or train suitable candidates for such jobs.”

This is the rationale for justifying the 400-500 work permits granted to the Chinese, but Mr Wrinkle retorted: “Who says Bahamians can’t do high rise structures?

“We’ve been up 18-20 storeys at Atlantis. It’s not fair to arbitrarily say Bahamian contractors and construction workers are not capable of stepping up to the plate. It’s not true and not proven.”

He continued: “Nobody had a tighter schedule than Atlantis, and we had Bahamians working at 18-20 storeys. Why has it got to be a tight schedule? If it’s anything like Baha Mar, it ain’t tight.”

That was a barbed reference to CCA’s role as the main contractor at Baha Mar, which collapsed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and a near two-year workout around the same time that the Chinese company was negotiating The Pointe’s Heads of Agreement.

Many believe CCA’s failure to hit numerous construction completion deadlines was a major factor in Baha Mar’s initial failure, and Mr Wrinkle expressed major disappointment that just 40 per cent of work at The Pointe was allocated to Bahamian companies.

“Jesus, 40 per cent, huh,” he replied, when the figure was revealed to him by Tribune Business. “It’s work that can be 100 per cent done by Bahamians. One has to ask why 60 per cent is going to them.”

Chinese labour and materials typically go wherever Beijing and its investments are in the world, meaning that The Pointe model is little different from their government’s norm.

“It is understood and agreed that the workforce employed by the Bahamian sub-contractors are part of the overall Bahamian to non-Bahamian labour ratio, and Bahamians will represent 70 per cent of the total labour requirement for the development,” the Heads of Agreement state.

“The parties may, through mutual agreement, vary their employment ratio if it becomes necessary for earlier completion.”

The 70 per cent ‘Bahamian labour component’ is thus subject to alteration but, based on the 400-500 Chinese work permits, this implies around 800-1,000 construction jobs for Bahamians.

Mr Wrinkle expressed concern as to who would check The Pointe was adhering to these Heads of Agreement ratios.

Tribune Business, and numerous other observers, had seen a workforce dominated by Chinese, with very few Bahamians seemingly present, during the parking garage construction.

It is possible this may change for The Pointe’s second phase, which is currently in the planning approvals process, and includes the condominium hotel and associated amenities.

“Who ensures the percentages the agreement speaks of are in place?” Mr Wrinkle asked. “The critical point is to ensure those proportions are adhered to.

“That’s a tremendous amount of labour on the job,” he added of the 400-500 Chinese work permits. “The important thing is one has to monitor it. It has to be monitored so that the proportionate ratio is maintained.

“That is the question the BCA has always asked. Who’s going to monitor the situation and ensure we have credible information?

“We did not get that with Atlantis, we did not get that at Baha Mar, and unless something has changed we don’t anticipate getting it on a regular basis with The Pointe.”

Mr Wrinkle again argued that the development model laid out in The Pointe’s Heads of Agreement was inadequate in terms of maximising FDI benefits for Bahamian businesses and workers.

“It’s an extremely disappointing policy from a national development perspective,” he told Tribune Business. “We’re giving jobs. career opportunities and business opportunities away, and getting nothing from the trickle down.

“They are bringing in their labour and materials duty free, and bring in their management and take their profits out. It’s not a working formula for the country. It’s not working for the economy and construction industry, and we need change in the future.”

Mr Wrinkle added: “People are taking everything they can get out of this country, and leaving nothing behind. We can’t build our nation in that manner. We can’t do that.”