Ensuring Bahamian investors downtown are treated just as well as the Chinese

Wed, Nov 26th 2014, 12:17 PM

Last year 6.15 million visitors came to The Bahamas. The majority of these people - 4.8 million - came via cruise ships. The cruise ship business is doing well in our country, and more and more visitors are coming to the Port of Nassau. In 2012, 2.2 million people came on ships to our capital. Last year, that number grew to 2.5 million.
The problem with downtown is it is not a vibrant city center. It has lots of jewelry shops and a straw market, and that's about it. There has been a public-private partnership for years to revive Bay Street. The revival, however, has been slow.
With the removal of the container port from downtown during the last Free National Movement (FNM) term, hope again sprung for widespread residential construction on the part of Bay Street east of East Street; the thought being that if more people lived downtown, the necessary businesses to serve these people would emerge, adding life to our city center. Thus far, though, nothing has happened.
On October 24, there was a game changer. China Construction America (CCA) announced it had purchased the British Colonial Hilton property and land to its west in the heart of Downtown Nassau. CCA is a subsidiary of the largest construction company in the world, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).
CCA will develop the vacant property to create a luxury hotel and condominium unit. The hotel will also include a multi-story garage with rooftop garden and banquet rooms, a high-end retail shopping center, restaurants, gym, marina, movie theater and boardwalk.
The investment is expected to create 250 construction jobs and 500 permanent jobs for Bahamians. An additional 500 jobs in the amenities and commercial components will be created, according to the prime minister. This project is expected to start next year and should run through 2016.
The government is giddy over this Chinese investment. Prime Minister Perry Christie and members of his Cabinet attended the announcement event at the Hilton. Christie also spoke. He said the Chinese agreed to join in a partnership with the government and other stakeholders along Bay Street to implement a plan for its redevelopment, extending from Arawak Cay to Potter's Cay.
"Some of these stakeholders with whom I will meet in the next fortnight are ready to move ahead with their redevelopment plans," Christie said.
We hope Christie and his government give the Bahamian landowners the reasonable permissions and arrangements they need to invest downtown, just as the Chinese received the answers they needed to proceed.
Last month, Larry Roberts, a veteran realtor, and Brent Symonette, the former deputy prime minister and a downtown landowner, expressed their frustrations in The Tribune about the government's treatment of local investors downtown. Roberts was upset with the 10-month wait over whether or not the height restrictions will be lifted from four stories to allow medium-rise buildings.
"I've heard unofficially that they're (the government) likely to approve six to eight stories, but our proposal put in for 13 stories on one of the towers. You can't put a condo or hotel development in there without going up," he said.
Symonette said he was still waiting for answers to issues that he first sought "sitting before Sir Lynden 30 years ago". These related to the redevelopment of Nassau's harbor waterfront and who would own reclaimed land, according to the interview in that newspaper.
For local investment to pour into the downtown redevelopment, Christie should seek to clear the table of issues between the government and the Bahamian landowners who are sitting on their money for a variety of reasons. As a country, we do not capitalize on getting those millions upon millions of people who come to Nassau via ship each year to spend their money with us because our downtown is not that appealing.
If these wealthy individuals and families can get satisfactory answers from the government in a timely manner, Christie may be surprised by how much money is invested downtown by Bahamians, complementing what was announced by the Chinese.
Downtown seems close to the redevelopment successive administrations have worked toward. Let's not forget the Bahamian investors in this process. They should not have to complain in the newspaper in order to get answers from the government.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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