NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Office of the Prime Minister, in a statement yesterday, asserted that the controversial $14 million Bahamas Power and Light land deal was tied to a project with no path forward, relied on a Rate Reduction Bond to close that was never going to materialize, and lacked any legal safeguards or protections for public money.
The Office of the Prime Minister issued the statement yesterday in response to Opposition Leader Michael Pintard, who had blamed the Davis administration for squandering $7 million of the Bahamian people’s money by failing to complete the land purchase for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. The row over the failed land purchase erupted in the House of Assembly last Wednesday when Jobeth Coleby-Davis, Minister of Energy and Transport, accused the Minnis administration of entering a $14 million deal to acquire land on BPL’s behalf for an unspecified purpose. She asserted that the government never received the land while paying out $7 million, or 50 percent, of a purchase price it cannot now recover.
In a statement, the Office of the Prime Minister said: “When the Davis administration took office in September 2021, the country was in crisis. The new government inherited a fiscal emergency, hospitals in disrepair, schools shuttered, record unemployment, and a failing BPL, which was saddled with more than $500 million in debt. The government had to urgently loan BPL $100 million just to keep it afloat. And yet, just weeks before the general election, the Minnis-Pintard administration kept spending money they didn’t have on a reckless $14 million land deal tied to a project they knew had no path forward.”
The OPM continued: “Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) had made it clear: the only way to close the land deal was with proceeds from the Rate Reduction Bond (RRB). The same RRB the FNM had failed to execute — and knew wouldn’t happen. Despite this, in August 2021 — weeks before voters went to the polls — they were still throwing big money at it. In October 2020, they had already authorized a $5.26 million payment and signed a $9.8 million promissory note. Then, in April 2021, they paid an additional $2 million simply to obtain a short extension. The original closing date was December 1, 2020.”
The statement noted that by the time the Davis administration took office, the promissory note had already been amended three times. It was also noted that BPL’s lawyers attempted to renegotiate — to at least retain a portion of the land equal to the $7 million already spent — but those efforts were met with silence from the vendor.
“No legal safeguards were put in place in this arrangement under the previous government. No protections for public money. No guarantees to recover what had already been spent. Worse still, the Minnis-Pintard administration knew they were at a standstill with Shell and could not reach an agreement to move the LNG plant-forward. Still, they proceeded, deepening BPL’s financial woes without a credible plan. Why? The same people who approved the purchase of seven engines they knew could not burn LNG fuel are still trying to justify a land deal for a plant that would never be built.”
The statement concluded by calling the deal a “deliberate, reckless decision” by an outgoing administration.
“What’s most fascinating is Mr. Pintard’s reflexive loyalty to failures he pretends to have had no part in. He defends even the most disastrous decisions of the Minnis administration, even when those decisions cost the Bahamian people millions. Mr. Pintard knows what we all know: the FNM never had a viable, structured plan for energy reform. If he disagrees, he should make it public. The Bahamian people deserve to see a plan they were promised over and over, but never received,” the statement noted.
