The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Cat Island stakeholders are aiming to present a proposal to upgrade Arthur’s Town airport and other critical infrastructure to the Government by this July, it was revealed yesterday.

Karlos Mackey, MoneyMaxx’s president and executive director, told the Cat Island Business Outlook conference that what started as “a simple What’s App group” for Orange Creek residents has evolved “into a very serious and structured partnership” that is determined to create “the most desirable settlement and island to live and work in in this part of the world”.

Disclosing the Orange Creek Redevelopment Partnership’s ambition to increase Cat Island’s population to between 5,000 and 7,000 persons by 2035, he said himself and its 100-plus “financially active members” were focused on three specific development areas in their bid to revive the island’s economy and society.

A Cat Island descendant himself, Mr Mackey - who has an executive role with the Partnership - said it was focused on the creation of an “essential services cluster” and “resort cluster” in north and central Cat Island. The third element in their strategy is the development of an “industry, information and education cluster” targeted at the whole island.

Breaking down the three areas, he added that “the desire” was to provide the necessary transportation, healthcare, education and safety infrastructure needed for the sustainable growth of north and central Cat Island’s community. This requires that Arthur’s Town airport be “redeveloped as a high functioning airport, with regular domestic and international commercial airlift concurrently, with the redevelopment of New Bight airport to service south Cat Island” as a priority.

With Philip Davis QC, Cat Island’s MP, now in the Prime Minister’s chair, the Government yesterday signalled that both airports will get focused attention. Dr Kenneth Romer, acting director of aviation, revealed to the same conference that the Government’s airport private-public partnership (PPP) initiative has been adjusted to include a “third bundle” of airports, namely the New Bight and Arthur’s Town facilities.

This indicates that the Davis administration will eventually be seeking a private sector partner to finance the construction and redevelopment of both airports, and take over their management and operation under a lease concession agreement, although no details or timelines were provided.

Not planning to wait, Mr Mackey said of the Partnership: “Accordingly, the architectural and engineering plans, along with the fund-raising and structuring of the management and operation Arthur’s Town airport, along with the redevelopment of Bennett’s Harbour Dock into a ferry and commercial terminal, are proceeding extremely well.

“We are confident the proposal for the management and operation of both facilities, along with the introduction of a partner airline for Arthur’s Town airport, will be presented to the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation and to the general public in July.”

The potential airline partner was not identified, but Mr Mackey said north Cat Island residents have had to endure “several years” of inconvenience if they wish to leave their island as a result of the Arthur’s Town airport closure. This has forced them to spend between 40 minutes to up to an hour to New Bight airport even though Arthur’s Town has “one of the best and longest elevated airstrips in The Bahamas”.

Besides the airport and Bennett’s Town dock, the MoneyMaxx chief added of the “essential services cluster” that “a commitment has been made by the Orange Creek Redevelopment Partnership to facilitate the construction and sustainable operation of a new healthcare facility, child care centre and new housing community in north and central Cat Island”.

Turning to the economy, Mr Mackey said: “We recognise that economic vitality is key to population growth and sustainability. Tourism has been used for generations to spur economic growth and our view is that to reinvent the wheel is not as important as [adapting] it for the terrain. Our terrain is one where there is no interest in large mega resort type developments that are environmentally deleterious”.

With niche, boutique resorts the better fit for Cat Island, he added: “As such, we are in the planning and fund-raising stages for three types of property in north and central Cat Island. One is a new beach resort with a very interesting concept. Another is a villa and cottage marina resort that seeks to do a marina in a different way, and the other is a new type of Airbnb-style resort with community ownership that will create a new model for Family Island tourism.”

As for the third element in the Partnership’s strategy, Mr Mackey added: “We want Cat Island to regain prominence as a deep well for academic, professional, artistic and entrepreneurial talent.” It aims to partner with the Agricultural Producers co-operative to establish an agricultural and industrial processing centre, along with a business incubator facility.

“We also intend to establish the Cat Island Financial Centre, which will be a state-of-the-art mixed use development with meeting spaces, short and long-term residences and office and commercial spaces,” he added, suggesting the facility would be targeted at firms in the digital assets and decentralised finance space. Classroom facilities, so that high school and tertiary-age students can take financial and computer programming courses, will also be provided.

The cost and strategy involved in rolling-out these plans was not disclosed. However, Mr Mackey said the Partnership’s members are drawn from persons on Cat Island, in The Bahamas and living abroad. He identified himself and Harold Newbold, a retired educator and public servant, as having executive roles, while Cheryl Rolle was chair.

The Partnership has been structured as two entities. The Orange Creek Redevelopment Partnership Ltd is the for-profit arm, which aims to expand the business and entrepreneurial community in north and central Cat Island by investing in both start-ups and existing firms. The non-profit is the Orange Creek Redevelopment Association, which is focused on healthcare, education and historical preservation.

Mr Mackey said the Partnership’s plans and vision had been “well received” by the Prime Minister. While many Cat Islanders, and descendants, wanted to return home and bring their families with them, he identified several obstacles that bar their way including “concerns about the consistency and availability of health that meets a particular standard”.

This had “obviously dampened the potential homeward flow”, while a lack of variety in, and availability of, lodging, transportation and entertainment options makes it difficult to attract visitors to Cat Island outside of Rake N’Scrape and regatta season.