The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Abaco Chamber of Commerce’s president yesterday said island residents must gain equity ownership in the $60m public-private partnership (PPP) to redevelop Marsh Harbour’s port.

Ken Hutton, speaking as the Government sought “expressions of interest” from potential developers and contractors, told Tribune Business it was “critical” that the port’s users and wider Abaco community have a stake in the project’s success.

“Again I think that any PPP or expression of interest that is received needs local Abaco input and consultation, if not outright equity participation in some form or other,” he urged. “It’s critical. If we’re going to pay the bills and run it, then the community itself and the users need an opportunity to benefit from it and invest in it.”

The “expression of interest” request, released by the Ministry of Transport and Housing on Monday, conceded that The Bahamas faces “critical infrastructure development gaps” when it comes to the country’s ports, which it described as “essential to the country’s medium and long-term economic and social development”.

Marsh Harbour’s port, which acts as the main commercial shipping entry point for Abaco, was devastated by Hurricane Dorian and there has been little action by the Government to effect the necessary repairs until now.

The ministry’s “expression of interest” calls for a PPP arrangement with a private sector developer or port operator, which is able to raise the necessary financing, “to create the performance dynamics of a modern port” and “develop, further, quality infrastructure that will produce value for every investment dollar.

“It is envisioned that the Marsh Harbour port will become a trade facility, both locally and internationally, by increasing internal and external demand for port services,” it added, calling on bidders to address finance, marketing, operations and security factors associated with such a project.

Mr Hutton, meanwhile, said there had been no response from the Davis administration or its predecessor to the PPP proposal for the Marsh Harbour port that the Chamber had submitted in response to the latter’s request.

“I’m happy to see they’re actually making some kind of headway on it,” he told this newspaper. “There’s been, to my knowledge, no local consultation related to that port at all. The only thing I do know is that, just prior to the election being called, the former government asked the Chamber to put in a tender proposal for a PPP related to the port.

“We never heard anything back. We got no response or anything. I’m happy to hear of it, but I can tell you that to my knowledge there was absolutely no consultation over this at all. One would think that the users of a facility might want to be consulted on the use of that facility, but we’re very encouraged the current government seems to have made it a priority.”

Senator Dion Foulkes, former minister of transport and local government, first revealed the Minnis administration’s Marsh Harbour port PPP plans during his 2021-2022 Budget debate contribution in June.

This was the first sign that the Government was seeking private capital to redevelop the port, together with an operator to manage it, under what would likely be a lease arrangement similar to the Arawak Port Development Company (APD) deal in Nassau.

“The ministry, being cognisant that as a consequence of the devastating impact of Hurricane Dorian in 2019, the Marsh Harbour port in Abaco was completely destroyed and, too, in an effort to provide a secure and efficient port, wishes to advise that the Government is considering a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to effect the rebuilding and management of this port,” the Ministry of Transport said at the time.

“The Ministry of Transport and Local Government, in conjunction with the Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA), has formed a joint committee which is in the process of formulating plans for the issuance of a Public-Private Partnership for the re-building of the Marsh Harbour port; the details of which will be forthcoming.”

Thus the Davis administration appears to have picked up where its predecessor left off. “It’s an absolutely critical piece of infrastructure,” Mr Hutton said yesterday of the port. “It’s absolutely critical that the port be brought back up to international specifications as quickly as possible.”

The Abaco Chamber chief had previously voiced fears to Tribune Business that the PPP proposal may not come in time to sustain the port’s ongoing post-Dorian waiver from having to comply with global maritime security standards implemented after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

A US Coast Guard and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) inspection of Marsh Harbour’s port had been due in July 2021, with the facility having received little to no repairs since - as the Ministry of Transport acknowledged - it was “completely devastated” by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019.

Adverse inspection findings could result in the present exemption from the International Shipping and Port Security (ISPS) standard being discontinued, which would result in vessels bringing in reconstruction and daily supplies to Abaco being unable to return directly to the US.

It is unclear whether that happened, but such a development would force these cargo vessels to instead offload their goods in Nassau or Freeport rather than Abaco, resulting in increased costs and extra time to get vital products to homeowners and businesses still rebuilding their Dorian-ravaged properties.