The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The deputy prime minister yesterday disclosed that the Government has invested $100,000 to “fix once and for all glitches” with the baggage handling equipment at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA).

Chester Cooper, also minister for tourism, investments and aviation, told reporters ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting: “There are many matters requiring remedial work at LPIA.....

“There have been, over the past several weeks, some concerns in relation to the baggage handling equipment. We have approved an additional piece of equipment in the region of $100,000 to ensure that the problem is fixed once and for all. But the baggage screening equipment is operational, it’s working. There have been glitches, but this new equipment will fix that once and for all. So I’m confident that it’s in hand.”

Technical problems are understood to have resulted in extra bags being selected for secondary screening, resulting in processing delays that meant some luggage failed to accompany their owners on departing flights. These persons then had to wait several days for their belongings to catch up with them.

Mr Cooper, meanwhile, refuted assertions by the Opposition that taxpayers are effectively subsidising tourists on their return home because the $40 health travel visa fee is insufficient to cover the cost of the COVID test they must take before departure.

The deputy prime minister argued that the health travel visa “always included the cost of a test”, meaning initially the five-day test taken by visitors in-destination, which had now been scrapped. As a result, the $40 fee is now being applied to cover the rapid antigen test that visitors must take to return to the US and other home destinations.

Mr Cooper said: “The test previously was the five-day test. We changed it to a two-day test, we changed back to a five-day test, then we eliminated the five-day test. And we’re now saying that same test for tourists, you can now access that as your test that you’re required to have when you are returning to United States. The model financially has not changed whatsoever.

“The model for the pricing of the travel visa did not change. Inclusive in the cost is a test, and that’s always been the case. Administrative costs are being covered; that has always been the case, and the cost of insurance. That has always been the case.”

The row erupted after Michael Pintard, the Free National Movement’s (FNM) leader, argued in a statement sent to Tribune Business that it was impossible for the health travel visa fee to finance the provision of a free rapid antigen test to departing visitors as well as the initiative’s other components.

Breaking down the $40 fee, he argued that the majority - around $25 or 62.5 percent - pays for the insurance coverage that allows COVID-infected patients to either be evacuated to their home country or spend extra days in The Bahamas in isolation, together with per diem expenses. Of the balance, Mr Pintard said $10 of every health travel visa fee cover the initiative’s administrative costs and overheads, leaving a $5 surplus which represents the sums remitted to the Treasury.

However, the Opposition leader said he had been taken aback by Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, stating during last week’s conclusion to the mid-year Budget debate that all foreign visitors now have a free COVID test built into their health visa.

Mr Pintard argued that the cost of this rapid antigen test represented a further $23 charge. When added to the $25 insurance cost, and $10 in administrative fees, he said the total cost of services provided under the health travel visa now amounts to $58 - a sum that exceeds the $40 fee by $18.

As a result, Mr Pintard said the Government - via Bahamian taxpayers - is now subsidising the return of US visitors to their homeland as it has to make up the negative difference between the health travel visa fee and the total cost. He branded this as “truly shameful”, arguing that such funds should instead be used “for the sole benefit of the Bahamian people”.

Mr Cooper, meanwhile, said he is not certain how long the travel health visa will continue. “The minute we make a determination as to when it will end, I assure you that I will come back to you and I will tell you,” he added.

“We are not going to have a knee-jerk reaction to it. It’s there for a purpose. We’re going to be advised by the Ministry of Health in terms of what they perceive to be the trends for the future. If they come and they say they are comfortable that we’ve seen the back of COVID, then as far as I’m concerned it can go tomorrow.

“But if there is ongoing concern about a significant fourth wave in the near-term, or even the medium-term, then there would be some merit to keeping it in place.”