The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Plans to revive downtown Nassau “fell short” because not enough focus was placed on the redevelopment of waterfront properties by their owners, Nassau Cruise Port’s chief executive admitted yesterday.

Michael Maura, who has been involved with efforts to revitalise Bay Street and the surrounding area for more than a decade, first as Arawak Port Development Company’s top executive and now as the Prince George Wharf chief, conceded that “east of East Street” remains in “horrible” condition despite the shipping companies’ exit almost 12 years ago.

Addressing a Bahamas Business Outlook panel discussion on public-private partnerships (PPPs), or P3s, he said it was assumed that the industry’s departure to the purpose-built port at Arawak Cay would spark downtown real estate owners to redevelop their properties but that has yet to happen despite the provision of numerous tax breaks and other incentives.

“I guess where the plan fell short is here we are in 2023 and we are still talking about how horrible things are east of East Street,” Mr Maura said. “If the Government’s plans had addressed the key stakeholders who own the land going east to Paradise Island, if that was part of the partnership, we would have a better focus running east.

“The focus was on moving commercial shipping. The thought was that the property owners would do something with their properties. For the most part, that hasn’t happened.” Both the first Christie administration, as well as the Ingraham administration that succeeded it, focused almost exclusively on moving the commercial shipping companies - the former to south-west New Providence near Clifton Pier, and the latter to the ultimately selected location at Arawak Cay.

Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, is now leading efforts to revive downtown Nassau and Bay Street. The Government has already demolished several derelict buildings that were both unsafe and an eyesore for Bahamians and tourists alike, while Mr Cooper has unveiled plans to establish a small business incubator in the area and invite local artists to paint murals to improve its appearance.

Mr Maura, who was BISX-listed APD’s chief executive, subsequently left to take up the same post at Nassau Cruise Port. When it came to the latter’s $300m transformation, he revealed that the biggest “obstacle” to the project were its very customers - the cruise industry - who wanted to continue to exert the historical control they have enjoyed over The Bahamas.

“We had obstacles,” Mr Maura said. “Honestly, they were the cruise industry that liked to control destinations just like they do in every other jurisdiction. For them it was some advantage to keep the status quo rather than the destination gaining confidence, realising it had more power and could sit across the table because it had something to negotiate with.”

Both the Arawak Cay and cruise ports have been P3s involving collaboration between the private sector and the Government. Describing the push that led to APD’s creation in 2011, Mr Maura said: “That was driven by a large movement to pick up this heavy, dirty industry which was sitting in prime real estate on our harbour and move it somewhere else.

“The hope was to replace it with something more residential, something more appealing to our visitors, something more appealing to Bahamians. As decades have passed, unfortunately, more often than not Bahamians go downtown for a specific purpose rather than to enjoy what it has to offer. But there was this drive for something great to happen downtown.”

He added that the partnership with the Government had “succeeded in picking up the shipping industry and moving it to Arawak Cay”. The sector, including owners of the shipping companies, stevedores and its former landlords, gained a combined 40 percent equity stake in APD via a special purpose vehicle that was formed to hold its interest. They also took a majority four of APD’s seven Board seats.

Mr Maura said keeping the commercial shipping industry together as one had eliminated the possibility that any operator would “go rogue” and seek to establish their own commercial shipping port elsewhere, as the “fear of competition” had been very real. And, by listing the company on BISX via an initial public offering (IPO) of 20 percent of its equity, APD - and by extension, the shipping industry - now has 12,000 shareholders.

Turning to the cruise port, he described its redevelopment as “almost an extension, a different chapter of the same story to revitalise downtown”. Mr Maura said the Government’s decision to outsource financing, management and redevelopment of Prince George Wharf was sparked when the cruise industry shared guest satisfaction scores showing Nassau ranked 19th out of 20 Caribbean ports, with only Freeport faring worse.

“Only by God’s grace, being the geography, our beautiful beaches, our warm weather and our wonderful smiles were we getting the tourism traffic we were because we were failing miserably in our service,” the Nassau Cruise Port chief said. And successive governments had also failed to properly maintain Prince George Wharf as the primary cruise passenger gateway to The Bahamas.

“Prince George Wharf was literally falling down around the tourists coming to our shores,” Mr Maura added. “Nassau Cruise Port is the single biggest transit port in the world. It was literally falling apart.” He also refuted claims that Prince George Wharf is no longer owned by the Government, explaining that the real estate was split off from Nassau Cruise Port’s lease concession to manage the facility.

“We have this narrative that the Government is selling Prince George Wharf when, in reality, that’s not the case,” the Nassau Cruise Port chief explained. “The wonderful thing about the P3 is you continue to own Prince George Wharf but have someone else showing up with $300m to fix your home and move tourists through from where they can be dispersed.”

Mr Maura also moved to dispel concerns that many passengers will not move beyond the cruise port’s own attractions, which will include a Junkanoo museum and amphitheatre, explaining that Prince George Wharf by itself can only accommodate 5,000-7,000 persons. That, he added, will leave 15,000-plus seeking other activities.

“P3s offer tremendous opportunities,” Mr Maura said. “We’ve just come out of a pandemic, and the debt levels in our country and the region are extremely high. They [governments] may not have the funding resources to go out and find $500m and deal with these issues.”