NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Maurice Moore, one of the founding fathers of the Free National Movement, says it is time for the government “take back control of Freeport” and acquire the Grand Bahama Port Authority.
Moore was part of the six-member team that reviewed the Hawksbill Creek Agreement in 2015 and recommended the renewal of expiring tax provisions. That committee made numerous other recommendations, including adjustments to the leadership of the GBPA.
Moore said yesterday: “I think the time has not only come, the time in my opinion is overdue. The government should have taken this over from three years ago. Unless they’ve done it quietly, the Port owes the taxpayers of The Bahamas a lot of money, millions of dollars.
“When I served on the review committee, they didn’t pay any of it at that time and my recommendation was either pay it or the government should take an interest in the Port Authority and its management.”
A riff between the Del Zotto family, owner of several key businesses on the island, and the GBPA has once again highlighted Grand Bahama’s struggles and stagnant economy.
Moore said the island needs a jumpstart that could only be provided by moving away from the GBPA.
“What is happening in my judgement, I don’t think those who are now the beneficial owners (of GBPA) and their administrators, I do not think that they are putting into it (what they should),” Moore continued.
“We are perhaps the second most important island in the chain and they have responsibility for administering more than half of this island, the island where there is a known city and there is a kind of public relation that is needed in my opinion particularly after the hurricane and the virus that came through. Greater emphasis needs to be put into development of the whole island.
“The east end of Grand Bahama was devastated completely. The roads still run up there but very little was done to restore the three communities out in East Grand Bahama and I believe the Port should have done much more than they are doing. All they are doing is collecting the license fees and revenue.”
The GBPA is jointly owned by the Hayward and St Geroge families.
Moore said the original owners seemed to understand that “the government needs to begin taking back control of Freeport.”
“It’s almost like a gift to them. Their parents handed over to them like an inheritance, the running of the most development island outside of Nassau.”
However, former Central Bank Governor James Smith, another member of the 2015 review committee, suggested yesterday that calls for the government to acquire the GBPA are premature.
“Right off the top it’s a private company, they need to want to sell,” he said.
“My view is even before you get to that you need to examine it in a much larger framework. Why do you want it? How do you get it? What are the costs and benefits of doing so in the short, medium and long term? When you suggest that they should buy or think about buying, it’s almost as if you came to a conclusion in absence of an analysis.
“For instance, I know that the Port Authority is just an administrative arm now. They separated some 50 years ago and the Port Development Company, that’s where all the assets are, including land outside of Freeport, about twice the area, undeveloped land. And I think that land was arranged in such a way that they get it after some development and I’m not sure that they’ve made all of the obligations under that agreement so that has to be looked at very carefully.
“Then, the other thing is, under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement there was supposed to be some funding coming back to the government for services it provided over and above what was in the agreement, like customs, immigration, healthcare etc. They may end up owing the government more than what the government would need to pay for it. So it’s a lot of stuff going into it.”
Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham argued in 2018 that the government should seek to buy the GBPA as part of a plan to offer Grand Bahama “a reset”.
Ingraham said the government should acquire the families’ 50 percent ownership stake in DevCo, the airport company and related entities. He called on the government to partner with investors and let the new entity be directed by private experts.
Prominent business Franklyn Wilson, nonetheless, told Eyewitness News the Minnis administration’s decision to buy the Grand Bahama International Airport for $1 would make a plan to get the GBPA more expensive.
The airport was damaged by Hurricane Dorian.
“The government has the levers where it could incentivise the sale,” Wilson said.
“But it seems to me when the government did that airport deal, why was that a good thing? If you going to try to incentivise them to sell, why relieve them of that? I don’t understand, I mean there’s a lot of stuff that Hubert Minnis did that I don’t understand, maybe in time clarity will come on why he did it.”
“That was an opportunity for leverage. Whatever it takes for the country to buy the Port Authority, by doing what the Minnis administration did, that upped the price. If you ever go to buy it now, it’s a different price.
Wilson said: “DevCo is a lot of real estate. If that real estate is going to grow in my view, you need a viable airport. So it was very much in the interest of DevCo to have a viable airport. Grand Bahama certainly needs one but DevCo in particular, they need it. So now you’ve transferred the obligation to create that viable airport from them to the government, so they could wait for the government to do it. For me, I am positive there was an opportunity for a far better deal than what was done.
“The Minnis administration and the ministers who were in that cabinet, including the current leader of the opposition, should explain to the country why that made sense,” Wilson added.
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