The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

DEPUTY Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest has hailed operations associated with the Wind River Tobacco Company, which will employ 25-30 Grand Bahamians in the coming months, as the start of a potential rebound for the island's economy.

In an interview on the sidelines of a Bahamas Association of Land Surveyors seminar, the East Grand MP called the US based company's efforts in Grand Bahama a "tremendous opportunity" for manufacturing, adding that if done correctly, the venture could mark a shift in investment prospects for Freeport.

The Office of the Prime Minister in Grand Bahama on Wednesday announced the nation's second city will become the new international base for all of Wind River's overseas manufacturing activities.

Wind River Tobacco's portfolio includes four chewing tobacco brands and a twist tobacco brand.

Executives of the company said Grand Bahama's unique free zone concept and inherent trade and tax advantages, paired with the already established trading routes there, made the island very attractive.

They further noted the youthful educated workforce, stable economic and political environment also added to the attraction. The company has said it will create up to 50 jobs by mid-2018.

To that end, Mr Turnquest said yesterday: "As you know, Grand Bahama has suffered tremendously over the last couple of years as a result of the loss of its tourism infrastructure and as we wait for that to rebound, we are encouraging diversified businesses to come to the island and to look at the prospects and (consider) the propositions that we have.

"Grand Bahama offers tremendous tax advantages, both domestically and internationally, and so this company will be coming in to take advantage of the duty-free environment that we have and hopefully they will find the kind of success that we believe that our environment offers. And not only in terms of export, which we certainly hope they will be able to be access and be able to be successful in, but also in term of domestic export from the island of Grand Bahama."

Moreover, Mr Turnquest said a number of other "exciting opportunities" were coming on stream for Grand Bahama soon particularly in the industrial sector.

He added: "(These moves) will again solidify (Grand Bahama) as the industrial capital of the Bahamas and create the kind of diversity generally in the Bahamas we need to even out the peaks and valleys that happens in tourism industry."

Last week, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis confirmed Hutchison Whampoa had responded to the government's offer to buy the Grand Lucayan resort, which he has continued to call "pivotal to the survival of Grand Bahama."

While he did not elaborate on the response received at the time, he said the government had referred the communication to the Office of the Attorney General for the lawyers to "work out something" on the critical deal.

Dr Minnis, along with Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson, toured the Grand Lucayan resort last Friday and was very pleased with the condition of both the Memories Resort and Lighthouse Point.

The Grand Lucayan closed last October after sustaining severe damage during Hurricane Matthew, negatively affecting tourism on the island.

According to the most recent labour statistics, unemployment in Grand Bahama now sits at around 12.4 percent - the highest in the country.

However, despite the dire outlook of these figures, labour pundits across the country have asserted that week to week statistics paint an even more bleak picture.

"I would jump off a bridge if you could really tell me that the unemployment rate in Grand Bahama is 12.4 percent," then Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) President John Pinder said in August when presented with survey results.

He added: "Are you kidding me? I'm in Freeport two, three times a month. Freeport is a ghost town. Ain't no employment in Freeport, unless the people have all moved to New Providence or Bimini and stopped looking for jobs. But don't tell me the unemployment rate in Freeport is 12.4 percent. I don't believe that."

The labour survey was conducted between April 24 and April 30 by the Department of Statistics.