The Tribune

By MALCOLM J STRACHAN

IN a court filing last week, China Construction America (CCA) revealed what many Bahamians have been fearing for the past three years — that CCA is not currently in a position to complete Baha Mar on yet another schedule that the company itself established.

Last time, they blamed the original developer and said that too many “work order changes” caused the lengthy delay, an accusation that holds no water with experienced contractors and construction managers.

This time, they are blaming a company that will not sell them lounge chairs, claiming that they are unable to acquire different lounge chairs in the three and a half months before the completion deadline. Who will they blame next?

This absurd excuse is yet another reason why Bahamians do not and should not trust CCA, and continue to balk at the false notion that Baha Mar and its potential economic benefits for The Bahamas can be entrusted to a company with such poor credibility and a track record of being unable to deliver for The Bahamas.

Bahamians remember that CCA is the same company that missed deadline after deadline to complete the project, blew through the budget that it created for the project, and relied on imported labour rather than employ Bahamian construction workers. All of these issues are to blame for the fact that the project still isn’t complete!

Beyond this, we have seen first-hand CCA’s willingness to engage in worrisome practices with public officials.

Just a few months ago, CCA senior vice president Daniel Liu was exposed as engaging with former Minister Jerome Fitzgerald over awarding contracts to his businesses, in a flagrant breach of Cabinet protocol. What other misdeeds has CCA committed that we do not yet know about?

CCA and its consistent failures have directly cost our country hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tourism revenues and increased unemployment following the mass layoffs at Baha Mar in 2015.

CCA’s actions have not only limited economic opportunities for all Bahamian citizens, but also have damaged our reputation among important international organisations, resulting in a downgraded international credit rating for The Bahamas.

Perhaps the only way that CCA could cause further harm to Bahamians would be some sort of catastrophe at Baha Mar. With its awful track record, it’s not surprising that CCA’s construction has accumulated hundreds of on-record work defects that have yet to be addressed.

In fact, CCA has already admitted to using cheaper, inferior materials during the construction of certain parts of the resort. Hopefully, this new FNM government is undertaking the necessary safety inspections of Baha Mar, since we know that we cannot trust CCA to build a safe building on its own.

Does the new government truly intend to wait around for the next three and a half months to see if CCA will make good on its word for the first time? CCA’s past actions clearly show that counting on CCA would be a mistake – now is the time to say enough is enough with CCA! Its empty promises and continuous failures have had tangible negative affects on the lives of all Bahamians.

To end the damage, our new government must place a moratorium on the sale process until the public is able to properly review all documents associated with the sale of Baha Mar to Chow Tai Fook, importantly including the associated agreements with CCA and the bank and the government. Bahamians deserve to know the full extent of the previous government’s despicable concessions to the Chinese.

It is abundantly clear that CCA does not have our interests in mind, only those of Chow Tai Fook, the Export-Import Bank of China, and its cronies.

The completion of Baha Mar in a timely fashion for the benefit of all Bahamians should be the foremost priority for those working on the project.

For CCA, this is clearly not the case. And now is the time to turn that completion over to Bahamians, who, unlike CCA, have the proven commitment to the betterment of The Bahamas.