The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Grand Bahama’s Chamber of Commerce president yesterday said he does not support the proposed North Andros Free Trade Zone coming to Freeport.

Gregory Laroda told Tribune Business that the project, conceived by Los Angeles billionaire philanthropist, Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, would result in giving up too much land for too little in return for Bahamians.

“I read up on some of the projects slated for Andros, and my concern probably would be almost the same as the Prime Minister in terms of it seems like a whole lot of land is involved,” he said. “At the end of the day, when you look at giving up that amount of land, what are we really going to get from it as Bahamians?

“So I wouldn’t support it from that standpoint. If it is coming to Freeport in the same format as it is being presented for Andros, then I would have the same concerns again in terms of what are we really going to get out of the deal, and how much do we have to give up to get what we are going to get from it?

“Even if it looks like it can marry well with what’s left of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, all of that is phasing out now in any event, and it will only have life for another 35 years or so. So all of those things you have to look at.”

Mr Laroda urged caution over the call by Fred Smith QC for the government to direct all large-scale investment projects to Grand Bahama. “As a resident living on Grand Bahama, I would like to see large-scale investments as well, but to me you would still have to look at the investments individually and see if they are really suited to Grand Bahama,” he added.

“We’re industrial-focused right now, and so there may be some large-scale investments that may not be suited to Grand Bahama. To the extent that the projects can work on Grand Bahama, I would be all for that. But I wouldn’t say just divert any and everything to Grand Bahama.”

It is unclear why Dr Soon-Shiong chose Andros over Grand Bahama for his project, and Mr Laroda said: “I’m thinking he probably was trying to create something in Andros similar to what we have in the Hawksbill Creek area, and so from that standpoint it wouldn’t make too much sense to introduce that on an island that already, in some form, has that going on.

“For years I was saying that when you look at the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, and what it did for the Freeport area of the island, that maybe it was kind of a shock as to why we haven’t tried something like that in one of the other islands. I was thinking that was the reason for wanting to go to some place like Andros.

“Andros also has a whole lot of land that can be developed, and you are probably starting with a blank slate. I think that might be why the investor was seeking Andros. When you look at the land they are asking for, where else can you do that other than Andros. You can’t look to develop and control that type of land, not even on Grand Bahama,” Mr Laroda added.

“If they look to put it in the Freeport area, to me they have go to back to the drawing board and it would probably have to be a different project. They would have to revisit a lot of what they are talking about.”