Although Prime Minister Perry Christie indicated that he received good news about the Baha Mar project on Wednesday night, he warned yesterday that the mega resort could suffer payroll issues if its challenges are not resolved soon.
Christie, who spoke to reporters during a press conference on the National Development Plan at The College of The Bahamas, said resolving Baha Mar's issues is the "single greatest obligation" he has right now in terms of daily governance.
"I have a number of meetings today with respect to Baha Mar," he said. "Thousands of Bahamians have made decisions to go and work there and every day is a day of challenge and we could see it coming when the point can be reached where the developer says I could no longer carry a payroll.
"I am now directly involved in a very meaningful way in that exercise to try and bring a resolution to it."
Asked for more clarity on the payroll issues, Christie said while the developer is paying its employees today it is unclear how long that will be affordable.
"People are on the payroll, thousands, and our job is to recognize that when a hotel is closed and remains closed and unfinished you can only continue with that for so long. There is a national urgency about it."
There are approximately 2,000 employees at Baha Mar. Last month, Baha Mar CEO Sarkis Izmirlian informed staff that the property had canceled reservations and reassigned more than 1,000 employees from their original positions to jobs that needed to be done within the resort. The opening has been delayed three times. The opening was originally set for December 2014, then March 2015, and then the first week in May.
Christie said he was in communication with Baha mar officials for most of Wednesday night and was expected to meet with Izmirlian yesterday. Izmirlian returned to The Bahamas this week after attending meetings in New York with the president of China Construction America, the lead contractor for the $3.5 billion project. Asked on Wednesday night if he is relieved and if the public can be relieved now, Christie said, "No. I think because everything is very fluid it is very encouraging for me and I want to speak to him and I think I'm going to be able to speak on that based on what has just come in."
Izmirlian was recently in China amid increasing uncertainty over the fate of the project. He met with partners in China multiple times this year to discuss the issues that were preventing the property from opening. At last reports, The Nassau Guardian understood Izmirlian was hoping for a late September opening, but there was no confirmation from Chinese officials on a completion date for the project.
Christie, who was been meeting with Baha Mar developers over the last several months, said he hopes the matter comes to an amicable resolution soon.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
