The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian taxpayers will have to provide an extra $31m to complete an Andre Rodgers baseball stadium that the Minnis administration feared will “never pay for itself”, it was revealed yesterday.

Alfred Sears, minister of public works and utilities, during his contribution in parliament yesterday, told the House of Assembly that payments worth “$27.438m” had already been certified as incurred on a project that remains unfinished and unable to generate potential sports tourism-related revenues.

While the minister did not explicitly confirm this, adding those two figures together equates to nearly $58.5m - an outlay that it will take years to recoup if not make it impossible for The Bahamas and long-suffering taxpayers to earn a return on their investment.

Mr Sears yesterday said outstanding payments to vendors had not been provided for in the current Budget. He added: “There are payments certificates valued at $3.257m to date, which have not been paid for lack of funding allocated in the Ministry of Works and Utilities’ 2021-2022 capital budget.

“This project’s completion has been greatly delayed and it has, in fact, been delayed from 2017. Some $27m has been sitting on the ground that has been delayed from then to now. The delay has caused the following concerns: One, the project has been extended a number of times over approximately 38 months and across three VAT periods, causing the need for additional funding.”

Mr Sears said there had also been an “escalation in the cost of material equipment and labour due to the transition between governments. The cost escalation is valued in this context at $685,231.

“Construction of ancillary buildings and concrete works, such as ticket booths, batting cage aprons, and structural support for batting cages, etc. was not priced in the tender process, as drawings were incomplete and requires $1m.”

To complete the Andre Rodgers stadium will cost $31.33m, Mr Sears said, most of which will permit the main contractor, Wooslee Construction, to complete what has already been started at the stadium.

Tribune Business previously revealed the construction cost overruns on the baseball stadium project, and the concerns they caused for the past administration.

Desmond Bannister, the immediate past minister of works, told this newspaper in September 2018 that the Government was aiming to cap construction costs at “about $30m” - rather than the $43.014m full scope of works as it was then - to limit the Bahamian people’s financial exposure.

This newspaper had obtained internal Cabinet documents revealing the Christie administration’s initial $16.5m “estimated project cost” threatened to increase by 160 percent - almost three times’ higher than the original budget.

The stadium’s costs increased progressively since the project was conceived in 2014-2015, rapidly increasing to $18.75m and then just over $21m by the time the Christie administration was voted out of office in the May 2017 general election.

A November 27, 2017, construction “update” revealed that the “original funds required” subsequently soared to $32.917m through the addition of more than $6m in “contingencies” and “provisional sums” to cover any cost overruns.

Terran Rodgers, a Ministry of Works architect, said in the report that construction delays due to non-payment of the contractor, Wooslee Construction, plus structural engineers and other professionals, had added some $1.711m to the cost.

And he warned that “additional funds required to complete the project” stood at $8.386m if the Government went through with adding “two auxiliary fields” and “high-level IT services”, taking the final cost to $43.014m.

Michael Pintard, the Opposition’s leader, yesterday challenged “the clear impression” given by Mr Sears that the Minnis administration did nothing to move the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium project forward during its four-and-a-half years in office.

He added that Wooslee stopped working before the 2017 general election, when the last Christie administration was in office, because it had not been paid. Project delays were also caused by design changes; the need to include communications and other infrastructure that was excluded from the original plans; and the fact the stadium was “not oriented” for professional baseball.

Mr Sears, meanwhile, said: “The completion of the Andre Rodgers baseball stadium is a key component to the ‘Sports in Paradise’ initiative. In fact, it is anticipated that the following events will be hosted at the Andre Rodgers baseball stadium upon its completion.

“The Babe Ruth baseball league Caribbean championships. This tournament will see competition with boys 12 and under, and boys 16 and under, from 22 countries. Participating countries with those age groups include Aruba, the US and Cayman Islands, Mexico, Jamaica, Curacao, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, People’s Republic of China, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Germany.

“Secondly, there will also be The Bahamas Baseball Association Caribbean baseball championships, which is scheduled for December of this year. The tournament will feature young men 23 and under from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and Haiti.”