The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama Chamber of Commerce president Greg Laroda is confident major announcements could be made soon concerning the sale of the island’s airport and the beleaguered Grand Lucayan resort.

Mr Laroda believes the airport is vital in terms of the sale of the resort, which relies on airlifts.

“I had discussions with the government even as recent as today, and the acting chairman of the (Grand Bahama) Port Authority, and I am confident that a plan is being discussed and would be put in place that would deal with the eventual ownership of the airport.

“And once that happens, we can start to put a plan in place about where we do go with the airport moving forward; how we rebuild it and where we rebuild it. We…definitely we can’t rebuild what was there getting destroyed after every major hurricane. I think discussions are going well and we should probably in short order have some official announcement as to the final outcome of that,” he said.

The airport, which is jointly owned and managed by Hutchison Port Holdings with Grand Bahama Port Authority Group Ltd, sustained severe flood damage in early September during Hurricane Dorian. It reopened to international/commercial flights in the latter part of 2019.

Air arrivals to Grand Bahama are very low and the island’s tourism sector has been significantly affected. In late 2019, Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar said the Minnis administration was considering purchasing the airport.

Mr Laroda also believes that an announcement will soon come on the Grand Lucayan’s sale.

“I also feel like the matter with the sale of the Our Lucaya hotel strip, we should hear some announcement soon on that as well. We also know that project is going to rely a lot on where we go with airlifts to the island. So, we have to look at those two (the airport and hotel) almost together. I feel positive about where we are with those discussions,” he said.

The government purchased the hotel for $65m in 2018, with the intent to quickly resell it, however the sale has not yet been finalised.

During the chamber’s annual general meeting and election of officers and directors on Wednesday, he gave his year-end report to members.

He thinks the Chamber’s plans to address the economic turn-around of Freeport through “open and frank” discussions together with the government and GBPA have been elusive.

Mr Laroda believes it is critical that all three entities meet to also discuss and develop a strategy for the island’s recovery after Dorian.

“As much as we planned to address the economic turnaround of Freeport and sought to do so by having an open and frank discussion with the government and policymakers, this continues to be a challenge,” he stated.

Mr Laroda indicated that while having had multiple meetings with the Ministry of Grand Bahama, there were fewer meetings with the GBPA than anticipated.

“We are having elections today, so if I am president after today, we… really want to get meetings off the ground so we can start strategising and planning the way forward in terms of recovery after Dorian,” he told The Tribune.