The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian developer yesterday revealed he is “one and done” because the process of obtaining all the necessary permits for his present multi-million project was “just too painful and expensive”.

Robert Myers, who is spearheading the Windsor Lakes development in south-western New Providence, told Tribune Business that he “won’t do another development” due to the challenges encountered in gaining timely approvals with construction permits “taking three to four months” to come through.

Speaking after the Government pledged that incentive-based legislation is being developed to accompany the 15 percent minimum corporate income tax Bill, in a bid to improve this nation’s ease of doing business, he asserted that “not one” Bahamian or foreign developer will say conducting commerce is simple.

Linking the Bahamas’ ease of business directly to workforce productivity and education, Mr Myers told this newspaper that while the private sector understands the country’s jobless challenge this was bound to occur from a lack of sufficient “employable people” as he urged: “We’ve got to create a workforce that’s hire-able.”

Calling on the Government to provide tax credits for companies that offer staff training and development programmes, which Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister, signalled is among the incentives being considered, he warned that investors are soon “going to overlook opportunities” in The Bahamas unless the cost and ease of doing business is properly tackled.

Mr Myers, who together with his partners was said to be investing close to $63m in Windsor Lakes when the project was first revealed in September 2022, told Tribune Business: “I tell you this. I won’t do another development. I’m one; one and done. The process is just too painful and expensive. I’ll still do construction but I won’t do another development. It’s just too painful.

“Outside of keeping the tourism sector going and strong and robust, as it’s our number one industry, ease of doing business and education are probably the two biggest drags on the economy. There are just not enough qualified people and incentives for workforce development, and the ease of doing business has gotten worse, not better.”

Asked to specify the problems, Mr Myers replied: “It’s everything in terms of boating regulations, in terms of taxation and getting power and getting services, getting Business Licences. It’s easy to pay taxes though. Whenever it’s been advantageous for the Government to receive revenue they’ve streamlined the hell out of it, but in terms of the ease of doing business for the private sector it’s not easy.

“The labour issues, the power issues and the Immigration issues. It typically all comes to a head around government agencies like the Department of Labour and labour laws, and not having a really clear and defined process. That’s why I say education. Education is a big part of the ease of doing business.

“If the workforce is not there, and you have to hire abroad to grow your business, the next thing you buck up into is the Department of Labour and Department of Immigration [obtaining work permits], and skilled labour shortages. That’s a significant impact on your business, both local and foreign. That all has to do with the ease of doing business. It’s not just the obvious things like permits.”

The Government will likely counter that it is tackling problems such as workforce productivity and inefficiency via the new national apprenticeship initiative, for which legislation has been passed, while it is also mandating that companies identify a Bahamian understudy to ‘shadow’ expatriate hires so that they are ready to take over when the work permit expires.

However, Mr Myers argued of the ease of doing business deficiencies: “Building permits; you can’t get a permit to save your life. It takes three to four months to get a permit approved, and that’s a big driver of the economy. It’s a massive blockage. There are too many areas where it’s too difficult.

“The labour process for getting skilled workers. There has to be a national, proactive plan for workforce development. We all understand the employment problem, but if we don’t have employable people we’re going to have an employment problem. We have got to create a workforce that’s hire-able.

“The schools are failing and workforce development programmes are completely insufficient and underwhelming. There’s no incentives and they have got to start doing that. It’s got to be in the private sector. We’ve got to get some tax credits to the private sector for offering. It’s critical.”

The former Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) chairman said the Government needs to look at providing such incentives on an “industry-wide basis’, adding that both the Labour and Immigration departments are “telling us we can’t get a skilled workforce” due to the labour certificate and work permit policies.

Asserting that the private sector and the Government must “come together and create a skilled workforce”, with the business community leading the way on designing training courses and the certification required, Mr Myers cited the construction industry as an example. He noted that despite passage of the Construction Contractors Act, the law has yet to be enacted because the Board to regulate the sector has not been appointed.

“The private sector needs to drive,” he added. “We’ve been saying that for 20 years. This is not a new thing. We’ve been telling them for 35 years to get the Construction Contractors Act passed, get it fully funded, fully operational and it’s still floundering.

“It’s a huge section of our market. It’s the one sector that eats up the most unskilled people. It would absorb the most unskilled people if workforce hiring and development programmes were in effect. Nothing changes if nothing changes. If you don’t enact this thing, this Board, and have the right people put in these positions, nothing changes. It’s all just talk.

“The opportunities exist for whatever administration. They have to start listening to the business community and make it easier to get training. Those coming out of high school with three BGCSEs and a ‘D-’ standard, what do you do/ We have to make it easier for those people to get gainful employment and not get into drugs, gangs and criminal activity,” Mr Myers continued.

“They have to start listening to what’s going on. You have a huge amount of your population coming out with a ‘D-’ average. What are you going to do with those people.” The ex-Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) principal said it was the processes and systems that oversee the conduct of commerce, rather than the people in them, that are largely responsible for ease of doing business concerns.

“There isn’t a single Bahamian or foreign investor who would tell you it’s easy to do business in this country. Not one,” Mr Myers told TrIbune Business. “What we can tell you is that generally we find the people are great. They are just under-skilled and there’s a huge amount of effort we have to put in to develop our people, our workforce and hiring them.

“The systems are there, but they are highly inefficient. There’s a way to get a building permit, there’s a way to get power on, but it’s highly inefficient and takes too long. There’s a way to get your permit but it’s highly inefficient and expensive. All these things to start and drive a business are very inefficient and need streamlining. The easier it is to start a business, more people will get into it.

“Otherwise people are going to start overlooking The Bahamas because of the difficulties. You can show me all the land in the world but I’m not going to do it because it’s too damn difficult. The headwinds are too strong. It all knits together.”

Mr Cooper, in tabling the Bill to give effect to the 15 percent minimum corporate tax in the House of Assembly, promised it will be accompanied by incentive-based legislation designed to address long-standing concerns regarding the ease and efficiency of doing business in The Bahamas.

Referring to the consultation paper on the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax Bill, the deputy prime minister said: “The consultation paper foreshadowed the Government’s intention to introduce some form of incentives to reduce the cost of doing business in The Bahamas. These incentives will be laid out in a companion piece of legislation.

“These incentives would, when introduced, impact all businesses - not just businesses which qualify for the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax. In this respect, the Government within this year and prior to any tax becoming payable under the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax would introduce legislation that will lay out the framework for such incentives in a manner that will qualify under the” OECD rules.

Mr Cooper added: “In the consultation process with the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax, several respondents suggested that any new incentive regime be aligned with attracting new business development in key economic activity, namely headquarters, tourism, finance, technology and energy.

“And, in this regard, consideration could also be given to incentives associated with employment, capital expenditures, training, local content spend, research and development costs, the creative industries and extra- territorial turnover.”