The developers of a proposed $94 million hotel development on South Cat Cay hope to break ground within the next six weeks, paving the way for roughly 200 permanent jobs, according to Minister of State for Investments Khaalis Rolle. Speaking with Guardian Business, Rolle said that the project would produce some 200 permanent positions and 150 construction jobs over the course of construction, once the government hammers out the terms of the project's heads of agreement with developers South Cat Cay Properties (Bahamas) Limited.
"We're currently negotiating the details of the heads of agreement for South Cat Cay. The developers are very excited and we look to break ground hopefully in another month to six weeks. We're just going through the final phases of the details and once that is completed we will go and do the groundbreaking ceremony."
Prime Minister Perry Christie announced during his 2015/2016 budget communication that the National Economic Council had granted approval in principle to South Cat Cay Properties (Bahamas) Limited for the development of the $94 million project, which ultimately aims to encompass a boutique hotel, a high-end residential development, and a marina on the small cay, near Bimini. However, the project's developers were unavailable for comment up to press time.
Although the projected employment opportunities and more immediate construction jobs are good news for the tourism sector, concerns over successive administrations' dependency on the "anchor project" model of tourism - particularly for smaller Family Islands - has swelled amid the construction delays at Baha Mar. Rolle candidly remarked last week that the government had "hard lessons" to learn in light of the present circumstances stalling the opening of the $3.5 billion Baha Mar project. The resort, long touted as the catalyst for the country's economic growth for the remainder of the year, is locked in a well-publicized dispute between its developers, Baha Mar Ltd., and general contractor, China Construction America (Bahamas).
Although Rolle believes that the size of the Baha Mar project or its one-phase approach were not directly responsible for its struggles, he suggested that the lessons learned from the project would influence the government's blueprint for future developments under the pending National Development Plan.
The possible impact of Baha Mar's delay on the economy, unemployment and The Bahamas' sovereign credit rating have sparked a clarion call for more feasible developments from members of the private sector and leaders of the Opposition. With that in mind, Rolle stressed that South Cat Cay's developers and the government would adopt a more "pragmatic" approach to the development. Rolle did not speculate on when the developers expect to complete the project or whether they would employ a phased construction approach.
"We're going to try to take the most pragmatic approach based on the capacity of the developer and we need to be reasonable under the circumstances," said Rolle.
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