The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Sebas Bastian yesterday cited Town Planning’s rapid six-day “U-turn” on his $50m office complex as “proof of my suspicions” that he was being treated unfairly.

The Island Luck chief told Tribune Business it was “almost a penalty to be successful in The Bahamas” after the Government authority finally removed an eight-month “Stop Order” on the project and granted approval for it to proceed.

He added that the Town Planning Committee had “done in six days what it couldn’t do in eight months”, with the abrupt change in its stance on approvals for the Veridian Corporate Centre coming less than a week after Mr Bastian and his attorneys threatened legal action.

The reversal also occurred just four days after Tribune Business exclusively revealed the brewing controversy between Mr Bastian and the Town Planning Committee, which had potentially cost the former $25m in sales and forced the lay-off of 57 Bahamian workers.

Sources close to the Committee previously suggested the “Stop Order” was imposed in early October 2017 because Mr Bastian’s companies, Veridian Development Group and Brickell Management Group (BMG), did not have all the necessary building permits.

But Mr Bastian yesterday said the Town Planning Committee’s sudden “U-turn” left him feeling that his initial suspicions of “foul play or gross negligence”, in terms of how he and the project were being treated, were correct.

He revealed that yesterday’s confirmation of the building permit’s approval had left him recalling Majority Rule Day, and a feeling that he and other Bahamians were still “discriminated” against in their own country whereas “the red carpet is rolled out” for foreign investors.

While praising the Minnis administration for its focus on improving the ‘ease of doing business’, Mr Bastian said it seemed as if “the system is designed to hammer and slam” Bahamian entrepreneurs once they reach a certain level of success.

With the Veridian Corporate Centre having “a lot of lost ground to make up”, the lsland Luck chief said he would be placing a call to Bahamas Hot Mix in the hope they could re-start work “right away” and help claw back lost office space sales.

With the deadline for Mr Bastian’s threatened legal action set to expire last night, the Department of Physical Planning yesterday informed his attorney, Alfred Sears QC, that the sought-after building permit had been approved the previous day.

Charles Zonicle, acting director of physical planning, told Mr Sears: “I wish to inform you that the Town Planning Committee reviewed the building permit application relative to the above captioned proposal at the meeting held on May 8, 2018.

“The Committee resolved to grant approval for the proposed office park subject to the following conditions. One, the applicant must adhere to the requirements of the Ministry of Public Works relative to junction improvements and on-site drainage controls.

“Two, the applicant must adhere to the landscape plan and the requirements of the Forestry Unit.” Mr Zonicle added that the Veridian file was now being sent to the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) “for their necessary action”.

Mr Bastian, expressing relief that his West Bay Street development can finally proceed, told Tribune Business it had been “a long eight months” following the ‘Stop Order’s’ imposition, and various subsequent demands from the planning authorities.

“This is just proof that my initial suspicions were correct,” he said of Town Planning’s ‘about turn’. “It was either gross negligence or foul play. They have demonstrated, just two working days after you wrote your story, that they could do in two days what they couldn’t do in eight months. That’s because it became a matter of public discussion.”

The reasons for Town Planning’s course reversal were not disclosed in Mr Zonicle’s letter, and the Committee and its members will vehemently reject Mr Bastian’s claims of unfair treatment.

However, Mr Sears, in his May 2 letter to Desmond Bannister, minister of works, demanded that the planning authorities “cease and desist from what appears to be disparate, discriminatory and biased treatment of our client in the approval process”.

His letter alleged that rival corporate office developments in western New Providence were being treated “more favourably” than the Veridian project, which is located on a 10-acre land parcel off West Bay Street, opposite Old Fort Bay and just west of the Serenity gated community’s access road.

The former attorney general argued that competitors, who started later than Mr Bastian, had been able to progress further than Veridian as a result of the ‘Stop Order’. And, setting out the latter development’s chronology, he suggested his client had been forced to ‘jump through’ numerous unnecessary obstacles.

Mr Sears questioned whether rival projects were “similarly required to provide a traffic impact study, dust minimisation plan, landscaping proposal, excavation plan, boundary survey, civil aviation approval, Forestry Department approval, on the imposition of a ‘Stop Order’”.

Despite yesterday’s approval confirmation, Mr Bastian said he was unable to shake the feeling he had been “discriminated” against. “It reminded me more of Majority Rule Day, or something like that,” he told Tribune Business.

“I walk around with my passport in my pocket sometimes to remind myself I’m a Bahamian. It’s unfortunate in 2018 that in 2018 I should still be faced with discrimination in my own country.

“The system is not getting any better, and foreign investors coming in receive the ‘red carpet’ roll-out. I invest as much as them in my own country, and I get blocked. I am astonished. In 2018 I can’t believe stuff like this just happens.”

Mr Bastian said Bahamians all too-often liked to ‘pull back down’ fellow countrymen who were successful. “I genuinely feel that when you are a successful person of colour some strange things happen in the economy,” he added.

“A lot of people don’t realise it. I see it more and more each day. It’s almost a penalty to be successful in the Bahamas. They inspire you, say go out and be successful, be an entrepreneur, and when Bahamians get up there the system is designed to hammer them and slam them back down.”

Mr Bastian argued that he had never seen what happened to the Veridian project occur with a foreign investor, and added: “It happens to certain people. But it’s a new day, and I’ll continue to bring awareness to unfair treatment.

“I’m hoping the attention and awareness brought to my situation will bring relief to others going through what I went through. I want them all to succeed - white and black Bahamians. There’s room for more than one car on the highway. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

“That’s also why it’s important to get the ‘ease of doing business’ right. I applaud the Minnis administration for putting that in place. It’s definitely needed.”

Veridian’s civil works had been in progress for seven months prior to the ‘Stop Order’s’ issuance, and Mr Bastian served notice of his intent to resume construction as rapidly as possible now the building permit was confirmed.

“I’ve got to round up everybody and get those jobs back,” he told Tribune Business. “I had to lay-off 57 people, and have to get them back on the job and get it started. I’m going to have a phone call into Bahamas Hot Mix today and see how quickly they can get mobilised.

“Hopefully they can start right away, and will be able to mobilise tomorrow [today]. I’ve got to make up a lot of lost ground. Hopefully this delay will not have any further affect on our sales; it has already hurt, and hopefully we will be able to get those back.”

Mr Bastian said Veridian aimed to capitalise on the Government’s push for international businesses to establish a physical presence in the Bahamas - a drive that is tied to this country’s efforts to comply with the European Union’s (EU) anti-tax avoidance demands.

Shell is already planning to relocate its Caribbean regional headquarters to the Bahamas, and is understood to be looking for office space and rental accommodation in New Providence - all of which will boost demand for Mr Bastian’s and rival projects.

“This project was initially designed to fill the void in office space in the western market,” Mr Bastian said. “There’s demand for this product out there. Because IBCs and others are going to be required to have a physical presence in the Bahamas, the demand for physical office space is going to see a jump.”