NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prime Minister Philip Davis said yesterday that he now feels “betrayed, deeply disappointed and disturbed” by recent comments by a local entrepreneur seeking to undertake a development on the western end of Paradise Island, as he again dismissed Opposition criticism that he had “flip-flopped” on the Royal Caribbean deal.
Opposition leader Michael Pintard in Parliament yesterday questioned the Prime Minister’s current stance on the issue, noting that Davis had pledged to terminate the cruise line’s $100 million beach club development while in Opposition.
Pintard also pointed to the issue of Education Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin’s continued opposition to the development as he again raised the issue of collective responsibility within the Cabinet.
Earlier this month the government announced that it had approved a deal for Royal Caribbean International’s (RCI) $100 million beach club project, although it is still subject to environmental approvals.
Since April 2012, Bahamian businessman Toby Smith has been seeking approval for his proposal to develop a project at the western end of Paradise Island.
“If you look at all my utterances I said I would cancel the deal because at that time it was conflicting with a Bahamian who had a similar interest,” the Prime Minister sought to clarify. “If it comes to a foreigner and a Bahamian, I’m on the Bahamian’s side. Everyone who knows me knows that.”
He added: “The claim of the Bahamian was that he had gotten permission from the then administration to lease this property and the same administration turned around and leased the same property to RCI. That’s the position he represented to me.”
Davis said that after his administration took office he met with Smith who indicated that he was taking his matter to court for a judge to determine whether he did have a valid lease for the land on which he wanted to develop his project.
“The question then was why go to court to determine whether you have a lease, just produce the lease signed? He said he signed it but the government hasn’t signed it, and then I realized something is wrong here. I said ‘do you have sufficient memorandum in writing to say that you have a lease?’ He said yes, and I said ok fine, then your case should succeed,” said Davis.
He noted, however, that the memorandum stated that Smith’s approval was subject to the signing of the lease—something the former administration did not do.
Davis reiterated that the new agreement with RCI is not the same agreement as was agreed to by the former Minnis administration. He noted that he met with Smith after a judge found that he did not have a valid lease agreement, during which time he asked Smith to resubmit his application for consideration.
“I did not flip-flop. What is under consideration now is a new arrangement altogether without the land that you all were giving him,” Davis said.
Referring to Smith’s recent remarks regarding feeling betrayed by Davis for failing to approve his project, Davis said he feels “deeply disappointed and disturbed” by the comments. “If you can contact his lawyer, his lawyer will tell you what I actually said to him. I didn’t tell him to throw away what he has done. I indicated that he should reapply and what he has done would be taken into account,” Davis claimed.
“If he does not want to follow the process, a lot of others are looking and interested. Bahamians too. I am disappointed and disturbed. I feel now betrayed by him.”
In a letter released to the media, Smith apologised to Prime Minister Davis, taking ownership of his statements while expressing frustration with his 11 year journey to initiate the project.
“As I am sure you can empathise, I do indeed feel frustrated by this 11-year journey and as such my words reflected this. In hindsight, however, I understand the choice of my words should have been better selected. I wish to go on record to say while I am frustrated by the process, I would like to resolve this with you and I remain humble and faithful that we can achieve this,” Smith stated in a letter to Prime Minister Davis.
