The Tribune

• RF Holdings chosen for Out Island financing

• Operator tenders to launch in next 60 days

• Land acquisitions to Parliament ‘very soon’

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamas-based investment bank has been selected to arrange up to $140m in financing that will fund multiple airport infrastructure upgrades throughout the Family Islands.

Tribune Business can reveal that RF Holdings, the former RoyalFidelity Merchant Bank & Trust, has been chosen by the government to secure funding to transform larger Out Island airports into gateways that match their tourism industry status and facilitate increased visitor arrivals post-COVID-19.

Algernon Cargill, the government’s director of aviation, declined to comment on the financing arrangements when contacted by this newspaper yesterday. However, he confirmed that the Minnis Cabinet has given permission to launch the bidding process seeking operating/management partners for several Family Island airports within the next 60 days.

And he revealed that resolutions for the compulsory acquisition of land by the government, which is required to facilitate the planned airport expansions in Exuma, North Eleuthera and Long Island, are ready to be tabled in the House of Assembly for parliamentary approval.

“The tender is in the final stages. We’re finalising the process now,” Mr Cargill revealed of the search for an operating/management partner for these airports. “It has been approved by the Cabinet, and I;m working on the proposal.”

He indicated that, “depending on what the responses are”, the government could enter negotiations with one bidder to operate all or multiple airports, or contract with separate managers for each one via a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement.

The $65m overhaul for Exuma’s airport will be the first to proceed, Mr Cargill added yesterday, with the government now in the process of “finalising the agreement with the contractor” who he declined to name.

The government’s aviation chief said “Exuma is well advanced”, suggesting that construction could break ground “very soon” with the work set to be partially funded by the $35m proceeds from a previous Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan.

North Eleuthera’s overhaul will also cost $65m in what is intended to be a mirror image of Exuma’s airport redevelopment, while the projects at Deadman’s Cay in Long Island and Great Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands have been pegged at $18m and $10m, respectively.

“Long Island will be going out to (construction) tender very soon,” Mr Cargill said. “That is being finalised. Abaco is just refurbishment. The Government has financed that to a point, but it’s important to include Abaco in the special purpose vehicle (SPV)” that will be used to structure the PPP framework for revitalising the Family Island airports and their financing.

To enable the Exuma, Long Island, Abaco and North Eleuthera redevelopments to take place, the Government plans to employ the Acquisition of Land Act to compulsorily acquire private properties given that the airport upgrades are deemed to be in the public interest.

“We have the compulsory acquisition of land that we expect to bring before Parliament very soon, and that will substantially conclude the acquisition process on all the islands,” Mr Cargill added. “All the resolutions are written to be tabled, so it will be very soon. Everything is moving very fast, and we are working on the Grand Bahama airport acquisition also.”

The North Eleuthera airport land purchase, though, is facing opposition from 3,000 commoners, but Mr Cargill suggested that any issues can be addressed with the Government.

“We will have modern airports to accommodate demand for these locations,” he added of the project’s benefits. “The airports are far too inadequate based on the tourism levels in Exuma and North Eleuthera.

“It gives us the opportunity to create Exuma and North Eleuthera as hubs and divert traffic away from Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA). It gives us an opportunity to boost tourism and make the Family Islands better.

“They will be able to receive flights from North America and South America directly, as well as possibly Europe, so it gives them the ability to service entirely different types of market with direct flights rather than go through Nassau or Florida. It gives more flexibility.”

The Exuma overhaul will increase the airport’s terminal from the present 2,000 square feet to some 60,000 square feet. Together with ongoing upgrades to the Great Harbour Cay airport in the Berry Islands, it represents the first steps in a wider overhaul that is designed to transform key Out Island airports into true tourism “gateways” and links/hubs to other parts of The Bahamas.