Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) Chairman Gowon Bowe said yesterday that the sale of the British Colonial Hilton illustrates the country's need for a national development plan (NDP). Such a plan, he said, would increase transparency and help the country better govern its concessions regime.
Although Bowe told Guardian Business that the announcement was a "positive" given the deal's lengthy gestation, he stressed that establishing an NDP would provide a "position of strength" in subsequent sales by minimizing concessions.
Guardian Business revealed last week that the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) purchased the British Colonial Hilton after 20 months of negotiations. Hilton will continue managing the hotel following the sale.
"Our overall view is that this needs to tie into a national development plan, which is in the works. We've had numerous situations where concessions and other elements to get the deal done [are] sometimes done in a vacuum.
"We need as quickly as possible to develop an NDP to determine what our investment profiles and criteria will be in terms of evaluating the quality of an investment, the quality of an investor coming in and what concessions we can reasonably give up," said Bowe.
He cited previous corporate tax concessions with some of the country's largest hotels as areas where an NDP would prove helpful.
The BCCEC has previously pledged support to Inter-American Development Bank consultants working with the government to formulate an NDP, and has contributed to its development.
Bowe stated that the country needs a more comprehensive and transparent negotiating strategy regarding foreign direct investment (FDI), adding that the NDP needs to be completed "as expeditiously as possible".
"The better information and plan that we have, the [more able] we are to negotiate from a position of strength as opposed to going into each negotiation on a piecemeal basis as and when they come along.
"So it's more important that we get an overall strategy, particularly considering that tourism is such a heavy component in our GDP. We need to be very clear that we are maximizing the revenues from that," said Bowe. Minister of State for Investments Khaalis Rolle has suggested recently that the government is anxious to finalize a plan to create a firm foundation for future contracts.
The sale of the British Colonial Hilton included six acres of undeveloped land adjacent to the hotel, which CSCEC and Prime Minister Perry Christie confirmed would be used to develop another hotel.
CSCEC subsidiary China Construction America (CCA) is the Chinese state-owned company currently building the $3.5 billion Baha Mar. CCA additionally has a $150 million stake in the development.

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