By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 1, 2019 – In the aftermath of the massive devastation caused by Category 5 Hurricane Dorian during the first week of September, the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) on Tuesday, October 1, provided a “ray of hope” that will certainly boost restoration efforts currently underway.
On its Facebook page, the GBPA posted a photograph with members of its “executive leadership” – including Vice Chairman Sarah St. George, President Ian Rolle, Financial Executive Deann Seymour and Vice President Henry St. George – and other GBPA decision-makers with the following caption:
“Take a closer look. Our executive leadership team continues to work diligently with Carnival Cruise Corporation for the next stage of approvals, as it relates to the Master Plan and EIA for the new cruise port on Sharp Rock, Freeport. This new venture will help Bahamian entrepreneurs and businesses to become proud owners & receive opportunities.”
The destruction that Hurricane Dorian left behind after it menacingly battered Grand Bahama for more than two days represents the biggest challenge to the continued development of Freeport that executives of the GBPA have faced since the signing of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement on August 5, 1955, between the then Government of The Bahamas and American financier Wallace Groves, which granted Mr. Groves 50,000 acres of Crown Land and a raft of tax exemptions that spurred the development of what became known as the Magic City of Freeport.
Of course, the fact that there are two individuals on the GBPA’s executive leadership team with the last name St. George bodes well for the efforts being made to restore Freeport to its former glory. Vice Chairman Sarah St. George and Vice President Henry St. George are both children of Edward St. George, the late co-owner of the GBPA.
Edward St. George and Sir Jack Hayward, along with the late Sir Albert Miller as GBPA President, were mainly responsible for the remarkable growth and development of Freeport from 1976 when they purchased all the outstanding shares in the GBPA owned by Wallace Groves and became co-owners of the company that essentially is a government-within-a-government as far as the affairs of Freeport are concerned.
In critical times like Freeport is now experiencing, Edward St. George, who died in December of 2004 at the age of 76, would have donned his financial wizardry cape and make “all the right moves” to facilitate Freeport’s rebuilding efforts.
His daughter Sarah obviously has inherited her father’s good business sense and is well-qualified to make meaningful contributions to executive-level decision-making at the GBPA; so are her brother Henry and the other members of the GBPA’s executive leadership team.
This certainly is good news for Grand Bahama.
