The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The deputy prime minister yesterday branded the decade-long failure to fully open Exuma’s multi-million dollar mini-hospital as “a great tragedy that pains me”.

Chester Cooper, the island’s MP, addressing the Exuma Business outlook conference in response to a question from Grand Isle Villas owner, Peter Nicholson, likened the mini-hospital’s plight to “buying a brand new Ford Explorer, putting it in the garage and going back five years later and seeing if it works”.

Hinting that some of the expensive medical equipment previously installed may no longer be properly functioning, he pledged to “continue to work on it” until the situation is satisfactorily resolved with “active conversations” now occurring weekly between himself and Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness.

“It’s a question that pains me,” Mr Cooper, minister of tourism, investments and aviation, said in reply to Mr Nicholson. “I have these very active conversations with the minister of health almost on a weekly basis. His response is that we are engaging doctors from abroad to adequately staff the facility. We simply don’t have the human resources available in the country at the moment.

“They have gone to Ghana, Cuba and elsewhere to find suitably qualified nurses and doctors and technicians. The Cabinet has approved funding for additional staffing support.” The Exuma mini-hospital’s status, and its ongoing challenges, raise numerous questions including whether the Government will readily find a suitably qualified workforce for New Providence’s planned $290m hospital if it cannot staff a much smaller facility.

Tribune Business records show the Exuma mini-hospital was constructed more than a decade ago at a cost of $14m under the last Christie administration, with the failure to properly open and use it leading to concerns that the Government has at least failed to generate a return from spending Bahamian taxpayer dollars.

The issue is also nothing new, with Mr Cooper acknowledging two years ago at the 2022 Exuma Business Outlook conference in relation to the mini-hospital that “we’re still not where we want it to be and I will confess this has been a source of great disappointment for me”.

“You would know this is a new facility,” the deputy prime minister said yesterday. “It’s like buying a brand new Ford Explorer, parking it in the garage and going back five years later and seeing if it works. That’s something we’re going to find with some of the equipment that’s not been used.

“It’s a great tragedy that pains me, and I’m working actively on it on a weekly basis. It’s not just important to developers but important for residents and me personally, and therefore I am going to continue to work on it.”

Mr Cooper also urged Bahamian citizens and residents to help the Government, law enforcement and regulators police development activity throughout the country by informing on rogue operators, as he delivered the message: “If you see something, say something.”

Asked by Emmett Saunders, the Exuma Chamber of Commerce’s executive, how the Government plans to “hold the developer’s feet to the fire” in living up to community-focused commitments made in their respective Heads of Agreement, he added that The Bahamas must “beef up” enforcement as part of building “an orderly economy and country”.

“Let me tell you first, from the Government’s perspective, each developer would have a Heads of Agreement that lays out their obligations to the community,” Mr Cooper replied. “And all these Heads of Agreement say some standard things like you’re going to use local arts, crafts and music.

“You’re going to employ Bahamians where you find them, and are going to do other commitments to the community, maybe invest in certain things they select in parks, schools. Something like that. The Government has a compliance unit we are upstaffing to ensure investors comply with the obligations they put in their agreements.”

There has been a growing feeling among many Bahamians that investors/developers have not been properly held to their account over failing to live up to their Heads of Agreement promises, especially when it comes to community-focused obligations. Mr Cooper, though, said The Bahamas’ sheer size - 700 islands in a 260,000 square mile exclusive economic zone - means the Government cannot police this by itself.

“From a community perspective and local government perspective, we all have the obligation to ensure that there is responsible development,” the deputy prime minister, who is also responsible for investments, said. “For example, sometimes we have a rogue home builder who may be removing mangroves.

“We may have a rogue investor or developer who may be building against the building code. You have an obligation that if you see something to say something. We may have a developer who may be using a ferry service that they own to move their workers back and forth between the mainland and the cays where ferry services are reserved for Bahamians.

“As an MP and deputy prime minister, and as the minister with responsibility for investments, I have know way of knowing that with all 700 islands of The Bahamas,” Mr Cooper added. “We rely on citizens taking responsibility to sometimes report these things to the relevant authorities.

“Sometimes it’s boaters who are [practicing] as tour operators who come in on cruising permits without a Business Licence and do things they ought not to do. We have a wide expanse of 100,000 square miles. If you see something, say something. 

“We need to beef up the enforcement as well because sometimes you do say something and we need to make sure when you do that the appropriate authorities respond. We have a lot of work to do. We have to consistently build an orderly economy and country. Building a country isn’t easy.”

Mr Cooper, subsequently acknowledging that The Bahamas’ territory covers 260,000 square miles, added: “Therefore we need participation from everybody in terms of enforcing agreements with developers etc. The Government is beefing up its compliance unit and we’re going to do our part.”

The deputy prime minister, though, had to deal with similar concerns voiced by Rebecca Lightbourn, of Exuma Watersports, just after he touted the $1.5bn worth of investment projects targeted at the island. “We;re very excited to hear the new ones coming on,” she said, “but for every one that’s announced there’s three [projects] that haven’t been completed or come to fruition.

“We all know the problems with February Point, EDR is closed, Roker’s Point and Oceania Heights..... What is being done to hold developers that haven’t come through on their promises to account?” Mr Cooper, though, reassured that “over time it all works out”, with the second and/or third owners of a resort of real estate project often the ones to make money after the original developer fails.

“These developments are victims of the economic environment,” he added. “They start off with good visions and plans.” He pointed to the $250m Children’s Bay project, for which a Heads of Agreement was signed some eight years ago but has yet to move forward, as “very well funded” through having Swiss businesswoman and billionaire, Dona Bertarelli, as its principal.

Blaming “internal machinations” for Children’s Bays delays, Mr Cooper said: “Every story is different but the Government in the application process vets the plans to make sure we believe in our estimation that it’s reasonable. It goes through the professional agencies of the Government, Town Planning and Ministry of Works etc.

“Fundamentally, no investment is approved unless there is proof of funding. They all start with good intentions. Whenever there is a development, as in some of the cases you mentioned, there is always a second owner, a third owner as has been the case with Sandals.”

After the initial Emerald Bay developer failed, and fell into receivership, the Sandals resort chain was able to purchase it at a significantly discounted price. “Over time it all works out. Sometimes the second owner or third owner is the one that makes the money,” Mr Cooper said.

Ms Lightbourn complained that Bahama Sound 18, where she lives, has to contend with potholed roads. Mr Cooper, though, said the subdivision developer “has left the building decades ago” and the Government will have to complete the job.

He added that developers must be required to post performance bonds to cover the cost of completing infrastructure they fail to deliver - something that is already mandated by the Planning and Subdivisions Act 2010.