On Tuesday night there was a ceremony to commemorate the opening of the parking garage at The Pointe in downtown Nassau. The seven-storey, 900-space facility is part of the multimillion-dollar China Construction America (CCA) project. It will ultimately include hotel rooms, condos, restaurants and entertainment areas.
Prime Minister Perry Christie thanked CCA for its investment in The Bahamas. He said the developer injected over $10 million in the economy and the project employed over 500 Bahamians, who represented the majority of workers during the construction phase.
Christie also said over 100 subcontractors, suppliers and service companies were engaged during the various stages of the parking garage's development. He said the investment has further "stimulated employment at a critical juncture in New Providence's economic cycle".
This project was built on one of the most traveled streets in New Providence - Bay Street. Bahamians could see the workers building the garage. Chinese builders were brought in by CCA. They lived across the street from the site. Bahamians saw the scores of Chinese working. At one point, Chinese workers were the only ones visible. As the project developed some Bahamians could be seen too.
Based on the "eye test" it is hard to accept that 500 Bahamians worked on the garage. The Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA) yesterday flatly rejected the number. BCA President Leonard Sands said Christie's estimate of "over 500" is "ridiculous."
Sands told this newspaper that his information coming out of daily presence at the structure is that there were maybe 20 Bahamians at work on the property each day.
"I demand that he produce the evidence to support his claim," he said.
We hope The Pointe is successful. We hope that when it is finished it employs hundreds, if not thousands, of Bahamians. But we also hope that in the process to the development we all stay realistic in projections.
The issue of Chinese labor in The Bahamas is a sensitive one. Our unemployment rate has been in the double digits since the fall of 2008. The Chinese condition is that if they invest here they want their workers to be part of the deal.
It is not in the interest of The Bahamas to have a large number of Chinese coming here to do construction work every time the Chinese invest. The government knows this angers Bahamians. Nonetheless, the Chinese press the point and The Bahamas, with its desperate need for foreign investment at a time when its economy is contracting, continues to concede.
The concern of the BCA is legitimate. New Providence residents who passed that garage multiple times per day too agree that it's hard to believe more than 500 Bahamians were part of that project. The government and developer should substantiate the claim.
Whether or not they do, we hope Christie, or whoever is the next prime minister, is more insistent with the Chinese on subsequent phases of The Pointe that Bahamians get jobs.
It is insulting to the thousands of unemployed Bahamians that so many Chinese come here time after time, project after project, to make money working in our country when Bahamians have to go to social services for welfare.
We ask the prime minister to believe in Bahamians; believe in your people.
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