NASSAU, Bahamas, January 26, 2024 — Prime Minister Philip E. Davis said yesterday he will do what has to be done to get Grand Bahama back on track, The Nassau Guardian reported today in an article written by News Editor Travis Cartwright-Carroll.
Davis, who was leaving the 33rd annual Bahamas Business Outlook at Baha Mar, was asked about the government’s relationship with the Grand Bahama Port Authority.
“I have no dispute with them,” he said.
Asked about the government’s decision to withdraw its bid to acquire the Port, he said, “I will do what I have to do to get Grand Bahama on the right track.”
The Davis administration has been engaged in a public back and forth with the GBPA in recent months.
During the 2023/2024 budget debate last June, Davis announced that his government was going after the GBPA for monies he said is owed to the Public Treasury.
The GBPA has said those claims are contested.
He said it was time for “decisive action” regarding concerns about the compliance of the GBPA to the agreement.
“Grand Bahama lost nine percent of its GDP last year and is continuing to lose more,” Davis said last May. “Our position is clear: the Port Authority under its present structure is not realizing Freeport’s enormous potential; the status quo is not working, and the people of Grand Bahama deserve better.
“It is important to note that section 1(5) of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement specifies that costs borne by the government for certain activities and services provided are to be reimbursed by the Grand Bahama Port Authority for amounts in excess of customs duties and emergency taxes collected.
“My government has begun to invoice the Port Authority for these reimbursable expenses, as calculated by an independent accountancy firm. To date, the Port Authority has not provided reimbursement in connection with any of these invoices.”
Davis did not say how much money the GBPA owes the government.
Signed in 1955, between the government and Wallace Groves, who formed the GBPA, the Hawksbill Creek Agreement gave GBPA authority to establish a city and free-trade zone over 50,000 acres that would spur economic development on Grand Bahama.
Under the agreement, the Port Authority, which is jointly owned by the St. George and Hayward families, is obligated to provide infrastructure in Freeport. It is responsible for constructing and administering the Port area and to license businesses in exchange for various tax exemptions.
See article in The Nassau Guardian at https://www.thenassauguardian.com/news/pm-i-will-do-what-it-takes-for-grand-bahama/article_0e1c453c-bbc6-11ee-9c9e-b79126baff12.html
