The Grand Lucayan resort in Grand Bahama.
By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is satisfied his government is getting “the best price possible” for the Grand Lucayan hotel on Grand Bahama, adding negotiations are progressing well.
He also revealed the final paperwork is complete for the purchase of the Grand Bahama International Airport and will be put to Cabinet for deliberation on Tuesday.
“I know GB is concerned about the airport and they are concerned about the Lucayan hotel,” he said while in Grand Bahama yesterday to tour various major capital works projects that are still ongoing.
After viewing all the projects in West Grand Bahama and Freeport, Dr Minnis spoke with the press at the Pelican Bay Resort, where he also shared news about the Grand Lucayan, the airport and a new multi-story hospital addition.
Dr Minnis expressed optimism about the hotel negotiation but said he could not provide a date at this time on the sale and opening.
Grand Bahamians are very disheartened about the protracted closure of the hotel property in Lucaya, which has significantly impacted the island’s tourism sector.
The PM said: “There have been some ongoing discussions with Our Lucaya and some are disappointed that Our Lucaya has not opened yet, but unfortunately we were affected with COVID just like the rest of the world. And once Bahamians open their eyes and see that the disaster is not just in GB, but the entire world and hotels throughout the world have been closed down. So, we were caught with that also.
“But, in spite of that, there have been ongoing discussions. We had professionals come in and review the agreements that we’re negotiating and moving towards, to ensure that they are compliant with international standards and that we are getting the best price that we possibly can at this particular point in time.
“I am satisfied that we have; we have professionals reviewing that,” said Dr Minnis. “And my understanding is that it is progressing really well. I can’t give a date at this particular point in time, but what I can say is that as we come out of this COVID era, the hotels will be ready and the airlines will return and the airport and everything will be ready. And so, GB will be ready for this rebound coming out of COVID.”
Last month, State Minister for Finance Kwasi Thompson said the terms for a proposed post-COVID deal by Royal Caribbean and the ITM Group for the sale of the Grand Lucayan resort are “not as favourable as before”.
Asked about this, Dr Minnis said: “We had professionals who reviewed terms throughout the world and when you take the devastation COVID caused to the world economy, what you may have gotten pre-Covid you may not necessarily get post-Covid. So, we are caught with the world dilemma, and we are satisfied we are getting the best available price considering where we are today.”
On the matter of the airport, the PM indicated that the government is moving towards taking that over soon.
The government has been in negotiations with the Grand Bahama Port Authority and Hutchison Port Holdings to acquire GBIA, which sustained severe hurricane damage during Dorian in September 2019.
“The airport - my understanding is that all the paperwork is all completed and that will be brought to Cabinet on Tuesday at which time Cabinet will deliberate on it.
“We are prepared at this time to take over and move the management team in place; once the management is in place, then we will take over,” he said.
The airport needs major redevelopment, and the government plans to enter into a public-private partnership with a foreign investor.
Dr Minnis also commented on the progress of Rand Memorial Hospital repair and plans for a new multi-story addition at the hospital that is being designed by the Beck Group.
“Grand Bahamians have been complaining quite a bit about the hospital. The hospital is progressing very rapidly; my understanding is that it would be a question of where we go from there. The Beck Group, which designed the Critical Care Block when I was Minister of Health in New Providence, is the same company designing the new hospital here in GB - and that’s a four-story complex. But it would be designed in such a way as the population continues to grow it would be able to move to the fifth and sixth floor as it is necessary.”
Yesterday, Dr Minnis also toured West End Dock, the new Holmes Rock School, the new Administrator Complex Building at Eight Mile Rock, Rand Memorial Hospital, among other sites. He also stopped at Hugh Campbell Primary School and Eight Mile Rock High. He also went into East Grand Bahama, where he also toured various government capital projects.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 9 months ago
Campaign lies...
moncurcool 3 years, 9 months ago
Hubert Ingrahm did the most sensible thing in the history of this country when he divested government of owning hotels. Sadly, some people today don't learn lessons from the past.
tribanon 3 years, 9 months ago
THEN WHY DON'T YOU TELL US MINNIS JUST HOW MUCH WE THE TAXPAYERS ARE GETTING FOR THE LUCAYAN HOTEL PROPERTY THAT YOU PERSONALLY HAD US SINK MORE THAN $150 MILLION ($150,000,000) OF OUR HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS INTO. AND KEEP IN MIND DOOFAS MINNIS, WE KNOW THAT IT'S THE BAHAMIAN TAXPAYERS WHO ARE ON THE HOOK FOR EVERY SCINTILLA YOU SO FOOLISHLY BORROWED IN THE NAME OF OUR COUNTRY TO BUY THE FINANCIALLY UNVIABLE LUCAYAN HOTEL PROPERTY FROM YOUR COMMUNIST CHINESE FRIENDS.
Topdude 3 years, 9 months ago
Oh my goodness Tribanon took the wrong dose of his medication today. It is quite clear that he does not understand that in economics hindsight is better than foresight. This bitter bum expects the Government to predict the future, anticipate the vagaries of the market while being able to control the coming natural disasters. If this was the case Tribanon’s parents would have put him up for adoption. Or better yet, they would have abandoned him especially when they would have seen such a bitter and filthy idiot coming into the space of our nation.
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 9 months ago
But this isn't hindsight. There were numerous voices warning that this exact thing would happen. Nobody knew a pandemic was around the corner but numerous people said the govt is gonna get stuck with a hotel. There are alternatives. Pay the people for a year. Dr Minnis said no, we have to save jobs. then come to find out after they "saved" the jobs by paying 65 million the bulk of the employees opted for severance packages. You couldn't make this up. This was plain and simple a bad deal.
tribanon 3 years, 9 months ago
@Topdude aka Bottomdud: Try to focus on the many serious issues and problems facing our nation rather than on me. And the biggest of those issues and problems, bar none, is our very incompetent, arrogant, nasty and vindictive PM who has turn-up our Constitution and annointed himself as supreme ruler.
When Minnis was elected in May 2017, he repeatedly promised good governance and that it would finally be the people's time. Well, it has clearly been anything but that since May 2017. And now he's content to sit back and blame Hurricane Dorian and the Red China Virus for all of our suffering when in fact it was his very own gross incompetence, as fully exposed by his grave mishandling of those two crises, that has made matters so much more worse for the vast majority of us than they otherwise would have been.
Topdude 3 years, 9 months ago
Tribanon we are focusing on the issues. You ask me to leave you alone when the fact of the matter is that your only focus is on Prime Minister Minnis. Every drop of babble that spurts from your snout is Minnis this or Minnis that. Try as you might, our Prime Minister Minnis is the right man, at the right time to carry our nation forward and on to better times. Were it not for natural disasters and the pandemic we all in the Bahamas would be enjoYing The fact that it is indeed better in the Bahamas.
Just wait and see what we will accomplish in our next term in leadership. An open economy, a free Press, no corruption, free speech, a free market and No Association with Peter Nygard and no Ministers accepting the illegal favors and bribes which have become the modus vivendi of the PLP: Pamper Girls, Kickbacks and Bribes. Oops, did I forget something? Yes, a sitting Prime Minister Christie with Peter Nygard with teenage girls. Wow . Should they be entrusted with the reins of power? No.
tribanon 3 years, 9 months ago
@Bottomdud: While I'm flattered by all of your attention, it's really Minnis who deserves much focus as the failed leader of government - not me. But feel free to continue flattering me as much as you want as you try carry water for Minnis in that leaking bucket with so many holes. You obviously have no inkling of what's going to be made public about Minnis once he dissolves parliament and sets the date for the national general election. Stay tuned! LMAO
K4C 3 years, 9 months ago
Great Horny Toads,
what a crock, the PM and his lap dog Scott have been prancing around for years saying the Grand Lucayan was sold, now negotiations are progressing well.
birdiestrachan 3 years, 9 months ago
roc wit doc can LIE like hell/ He can teach Satan how to lie.
Why did they buy Our Lucaya and his Mombo jumbo talk? which is wild and crazy. seems to say that they will have a fire sale. they will not be able to get what they paid.
It must have been the idea along. and they say the golf course was not in the deal
birdiestrachan 3 years, 9 months ago
some time ago the PM took the press on a bus tour. and he said he was looking for land to build a hospital in Nassau.
Now he is telling the peoples time Voters in Grand Bahama he is building a hospital for them a few stories high
I trust they do not believe that.
TigerB 3 years, 9 months ago
Anyone has seen the Royal Oasis Resort lately, it was just across the street from the Bazaar.. well the Bazaar business lifeblood was connected to it... anyone seen the bazaar lately it sits in ruins like it's lifeblood partner the Royal Oasis Resort.
Now look at Our Lucaya...and the last shopping area in Grand Bahama, the Port Lucaya marketplace, which is just across the street to Our Lucaya Resort.. now image Our Lucaya looking like the Royal Oasis, and its life's blood Port Lucaya Market Place looking like the Bazaar. My take is if the gov't had let it sit and rot like Royal Oasis, many on here would still be blaming them for letting it sit in ruins... It's about to open next month, simply because they didn't allow it to get ruin... it means a small bit of business life will pass on to those in the Port Lucaya. I don't see that as being gold or red
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 9 months ago
You must not have seen the hotel in a while. Dark, vinyl siding all ripped off, rust stains running down the sides of the buildings, plywood covering some doors, and this after they lied about renovating it. They lied about negotiating with Wynn the second time when they signed a deal with him for a hotel in Nassau. They lied when they let all the staff go in August saying they had to because the deal with RCCL was closing at the end of the month. But you're right gold and red screwed us. The two of em aint worth a bucket of conch slop...
Topdude 3 years, 9 months ago
An offer from Peter the Pervert Nygard was Declined on account of the simple fact that our FNM run Government does not do business with child molesters and Weinstein type sickos. We are not open to accepting bribes and extortion. Our modus operandi is to improve the lives of every Bahamian and not the hierarchy of the PLP.
The choice is clear. FNM all the way.
tribanon 3 years, 9 months ago
Bahamian voters are not as stupid as you would like to think and most will be voting for an independent candidate running in their constituency. Minnis would have us believe it must be him or Davis, but that's not the case at all. For most Bahamian voters it's no longer a choice of the least evil among two evils. We are well beyond that most deceitful political game.
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 9 months ago
But. It is Minnis or Brave. There's no other choice..
tribanon 3 years, 9 months ago
Both the PLP and FNM love voters who foolishly indulge their alternating 5-year terms that greatly enriches only their corrupt political elite while transforming the rest of us into begging paupers. Sensible voters have woken up to the PLP/FNM alternating 5-year game plan and will be voting for the independent candidate running in their constituency.
AlexAlexander 3 years, 9 months ago
Liar liar pants on fire... They tryna save face in GB.. More empty promises more lies
truetruebahamian 3 years, 9 months ago
the more time goes on the more it seems that the UBP were better able to run things with class and vision.
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