The Coconut Grove Business League (CGBL), which lost its bid for compensation from the government following the negative impact of road works on a number of businesses, charged that the government's recent revelation that it would compensate affected business owners is all a part of a "political game" that the group is not interested in playing.
Despite the reported hardships that many businesses have experienced as a result of the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP), CGBL spokesman Ethric Bowe told The Guardian yesterday that the group is not the least bit impressed with the government's offer.
"The prime minister has, through his actions, damaged [our] businesses," Bowe said. "What he needs to do is pay for the damages. And why is he doing this now? He's doing this now because he wants to buy support.
"Our support is not for sale. We don't want to stretch the treasury with people playing political games. We want to be treated fairly in our own country. This is a game," Bowe added.
He was responding to an announcement that Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham made in the House of Assembly on Monday. Ingraham revealed that the government will provide some form of compensation to the people whose businesses were adversely impacted by the road project.
"Since society as a whole will reap the significant positive benefits of the NPRIP, the government believes that it is only equitable for it to provide assistance to those businesses most adversely affected by the project," said Ingraham, acknowledging that the project has been "vexing and torturous".
"I have therefore instructed officials to undertake, on a priority basis, a door-to-door survey along the project corridors where work has been completed, with the aim of identifying those enterprises whose business has been meaningfully and negatively impacted by the infrastructural works."
Ingraham said the government will consider several options to assist business owners, including business licence tax and real property tax rebates, and a grant program similar to the Jump Start Programme.
But Bowe said he is unsure what impact such programs will actually have. Asked if members of the CGBL would accept assistance from the government, he said, "How do you assist Jiffy Cleaners who is now out of business? How do you assist Supervalue who will be damaged as long as road is going in wrong direction? How do you assist Heastie Service Station, which spent nearly $1 million refreshing the station based on historical traffic, and you no longer have the traffic?"
"This is all politics. They're only saying things in order to win an election," Bowe continued.
Ingraham's announcement comes nearly a year after the CGBL lost a lawsuit against the government, which was filed following the conclusion in 2010 of a judicial review of the government's decision to make sections of Blue Hill Road and Market Street one-way thoroughfares.
The group argued that the road changes caused a significant reduction in business. Supreme Court Justice Neville Adderley awarded the group damages. However, the Court of Appeal overturned that decision.
At the time the CGBL said hundreds of jobs had been lost, and scores of businesses folded up as a result of the road works.
CGBL is made up of almost 50 businesses in the Blue Hill Road and Market Street area.

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