The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas needs to see “tangible results” from Baha Mar and other major developments in the pipeline, the Chamber’s chairman again bemoaning the absence of detailed policy statements on how to rescue the country from the “quagmire” it is in.

Gowon Bowe, in a recent interview with Tribune Business, said the Bahamian economy now needed to “things to move”, and for promised job creation and economic growth to become reality.

“We have to see some things move,” he told Tribune Business. “Everyone has heard the good news story, and are looking for tangible results.

“Hopefully, some do pay off, and we don’t lose the timeline because of election season, because we do tend to hold back when politics kicks in.”

Mr Bowe was likely referring, in particular, to the targeted April 21 opening for the Baha Mar project, and the 1,5000 jobs promised between then and January 16, 2017, when the recruitment process is set to begin.

Other foreign direct investment (FDI) projects that have long been in the approval pipeline include Children’s Bay Cay in the Exumas, plus Carlos Sarmiento’s development at Cotton Bay in Eleuthera, both of which Prime Minister Perry Christie has said should move forward this year.

However, many Bahamians are likely to only believe in Baha Mar when it has gone operational and is actually open, given the numerous missed completion deadlines and ‘false dawns’ that ultimately resulted in the project’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings.

Recent history, notably the terminations of 2,000 former employees, may also make it difficult for new owner, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE), to attract the numbers and quality of labour that it will need, as Bahamians will be twitchy about leaving established jobs.

And Bahamian consumer and private sector confidence will also take some time to restore and be regained, given the burden imposed by Value-Added Tax (VAT) and years or low growth and/or contraction since the 2008-2009 recession.

Bahamian-owned businesses, in particular, tend to slow down and hold-off on job creating expansions and investments in the run-up to general elections, until they see who has won, the ministers elected and the new administration’s likely policy direction.

Mr Bowe, meanwhile, lamented the continued “punch line” approach taken by politicians, in particular the Opposition parties, in the run-up to the 2017 general election.

He also pointed out that the “ideals” often espoused by politicians and parties in Opposition were often parked, and placed on the backburner, when they were elected to office and became attuned to the Government’s and country’s situation.

Pointing out that today’s Bahamian electorate was more “mature” than in decades past, Mr Bowe said: “In Opposition you can be idealistic, but once you get into the chair, there are realities you have to face.

“You have to adjust your ideals to what is reality, and start on a new plan. The electorate is more mature, and will say going in doesn’t change where we are. You have to have a plan that is flexible and accommodates different scenarios.”

Reiterating his call for more detailed economic policies and statements by all parties in the general election campaign, Mr Bowe told Tribune Business: “A lot of it is punch line only, as opposed to detailed statements of how to get out of this quagmire.”