The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE Minnis administration has ruled out renting the SkyBahamas building to relocate the Department of Customs warehouse after deciding its existing structure will better serve the needs of the government once repairs are done, according to Deputy Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest yesterday.

He said the Ministry of Works has been directed to review the customs warehouse near the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) to make a decision on the extent of the needed repairs.

Once this is done, the minister of finance said the work will go out to tender to find the most suitable contractor to carry out the work. Until then, he said it is not known how much the work could cost taxpayers.

Mr Turnquest has an interest in SkyBahamas. This has been the basis of direct criticism from the Official Opposition, with Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin drawing attention to these ties in the House of Assembly in early June.

“We have had a look at the customs warehouse,” Mr Turnquest told The Tribune when he was contacted yesterday. “We believe we can continue to run the operations from that facility, although we are severely hampered by the destruction that occurred there last month.

“We are going to try to make some immediate repairs and move around the internal operation until the other parts are restored. We have asked the ministry to have a look and make a determination cost wise and then be able to send it out to bid.

“We believe there is more we can do with the (existing) building once it is repaired. And we will look at the security to ensure what happened there does not happen in this manner again.”

The facility was broken into last month.

Not long after the incident, Press Secretary Anthony Newbold said it could cost around $3m to correct the damage caused.

He told reporters the government considered moving the customs operations to Gladstone Road. However he said this was not only a little inconvenient, but would result in losses of $600,000 in business that is conducted daily.

The second option was the SkyBahamas building because of its proximity to the airport and was thought to be able to accommodate customs business immediately.

According to Mr Newbold, when this came up for discussion before Cabinet, Mr Turnquest had to recuse himself because of his ties to the company.

Last month, Mrs Hanna Martin alleged in the House of Assembly that Mr Turnquest did not disclose his stake in SkyBahamas after the government approved duty exemptions for the repair and maintenance of aircraft in the 2017-2018 Budget.

She said because these concessions “could impact the financial interest of persons in the House,” Mr Turnquest was “obliged” to reveal his interest in the company when the debate began.

In response, Mr Turnquest said before the election he disclosed all his interests to the relevant authorities because he had nothing to hide. He also admitted that he did not realise the aircraft exemptions were in the budget until he read them in the House of Assembly.

Mr Turnquest also said Mrs Hanna Martin’s implication that he somehow amended the legislation to benefit himself is “misleading” and dangerous to his reputation.