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Wednesday, February 4, 2026
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Lucayan staff five weeks’ unpaid for a second time • ‘Very, very dire situation’; vendors GRAND Lucayan staff have also owed $17m gone five weeks without pay for a second time, it has been confirmed, with the resort now owing • Investments chief a total $17m to its Bahamian and pledges staff pay international suppliers and other creditors. ‘any day now’ Well-placed Tribune Business sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that work- • Union head brands ers - including in-house security ‘terrible’, ‘never staff responsible for protecting the Bahamian people’s nine-figexperienced this’ ure investment in the property BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
- have not received any salary payments and other due compensation since December 22, 2025, when the Government covered five weeks’ wages that were previously outstanding. Obie Ferguson KC, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, whose Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association (BHMA) represents 91 middle managers at the Grand Lucayan, yesterday revealed his members are contacting him daily after going without pay for the entire month of January as well as the final week in December. Describing the predicament of Grand Lucayan staff as one of the most “severe” situations he has dealt with, the union chief told this newspaper he has “never had this experience” where an employer both fails to pay
workers what is owed and does not provide a timeline for remedying the situation. Mr Ferguson said Grand Lucaya workers are presenting in a “no man’s land” because, besides not receiving what is due to them, they have not been officially terminated which means they cannot claim unemployment benefits and other protections from the National Insurance Board (NIB). Staff are thus unable to pay bills and obligations as they fall due, and cannot plan for the future amid the ongoing “uncertainty” over the Concord Wilshire deal. Voicing particular surprise that the Government who is the employer at fault, having likely breached the Employment Act, industrial agreement with the
GRAND LUCAYAN
Gov’t plans to accelerate Grand Lucayan permits OBIE FERGUSON KC
BHMA and workers’ individual contracts of employment, Mr Ferguson added that he has yet to obtain a meeting with Prime Minister Philip Davis KC in a bid to resolve the situation. However, Phylicia WoodsHanna, the Government’s investments chief and head of the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), yesterday pledged to Tribune Business that the outstanding salaries and other benefits owed to Grand Lucayan staff could be paid “any day now”. Responding to messaged questions from this newspaper, she reassured that the BIA together with the Ministry of Finance and Attorney General’s Office “are
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FOCOL to launch 5MW GB Power solar within 30 days
Epstein ‘interested’ in financing Long Island physics investment
BY FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BISX-listed FOCOL Holdings will begin supplying Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC) with five mega watts (MW) of soalr power within the next DEXTER ADDERLEY 30 days, it was revealed last night. Dexter Adderley, FOCOL Holdings president and chief executive, speaking at a University of the Bahamas (UoB) legal week seminar said the group’s subsidiary, Bahamas Solar Renewables (BSR), is achieving a “meaningful milestone” by integrating renewable energy into Grand Bahama’s power mix. “Today, we are very proud to highlight one of our most meaningful renewable milestones. FOCOL, through BSR, Bahamas Solar Renewables, has partnered with Grand Bahama Power Company to provide 5 MW of solar energy within the first quarter of this year; in fact, over the next 30 days,” said Mr Adderley. “As a company with our origins in Grand Bahama, we are exceptionally grateful to the Grand Bahama Power Company for partnering with us on their strategic project. This partnership represents the first utility-scale solar integration of its kind within our portfolio, and demonstrates how renewable energy can be aligned with existing grid infrastructure. It also reinforces the power of local partnerships - Bahamian companies working together to advance a cleaner, more resilient energy future.” The solar energy power purchase agreement (PPA) was signed in 2023 and marked a step forward in expanding cleaner, cheaper energy sources on Grand Bahama. The 25-year PPA, once implemented, is expected to help increase renewable energy to 10 percent of GB Power’s overall generation mix. Nikita Mullings, GB Power’s chief operating officer, last year said the agreement was part of the utility’s broader strategy to stabilise electricity costs for its 19,000 customers while supporting national energy goals.
THE convicted paedophile and sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, voiced “interest” in investing in the construction of physics-led science institute proposed for Long Island near the Stella Maris resort, it can be revealed. E-mails among some three million Epstein-related documents released by the US Justice Department last week disclose that the late financier was approached some seven years after he was jailed for soliciting prostitution from underage girls about helping to finance the planned Bahamas Centre for High Energy Physics, Astrophysics, Gravitation and Cosmology. Epstein and his foundation were pitched almost exactly ten
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years ago by Professor Eduardo Guendelman, who Internet research shows is still based at Israel’s Ben Gurion University. The proposed project was also linked to the University of Miami and a member of its faculty, Professor Thomas Curtright, and the two scientists to this day still hold an annual science conference at Long Island’s Stella Maris’ resort. Professor Guendelman, in a February 15, 2015, e-mail said he was reaching out to Epstein, who later committed suicide while in jail awaiting trial on fresh sex crime allegations, because he understood the Palm Beach-based financier and his foundation supported “interesting science projects”. “One such project that you could be interested in is the establishment of a Centre for Theoretical Physics in The Bahamas,” the Israeli scientist
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Grand Lucayan’s prospective purchaser was yesterday said to be “finalising” its development plans and brand/ operating partners with the processes for obtaining the necessary permits to launch its $827m development set to begin imminently. Phylicia Woods Hanna, the Government’s investments director and head of the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), told Tribune Business that the Davis administration plans to form “a special team dedicated” to managing and expediting the approvals process for Concord Wilshire so that long-awaited construction and demolition activity
JEFFREY EPSTEIN wrote. He described the proposed project as providing, for the first time, “high level research and graduate studies” in The Bahamas on physics, with an initial staff complement of five permanent researchers, ten post-graduate students and ten doctoral students. Professor Guendelman also revealed his plans to “request funding from the Bahamas government” and international funding agencies, adding that “considering how attractive Long Island is” and its proximity to the US east coast, it should prove an attractive venue” for hosting scientific
Generation reforms to save Nassau $120m in fuel costs BY FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net FOCOL Holdings’ top executive last night said its overhaul of New Providence’s baseload electricity generation could save consumers up to $120m annually in reduced fuel costs alone. Dexter Adderley, the BISX-listed company’s president and chief executive, said the transition from heavy fuel oil (HFO) and automotive diesel oil (ADO) to cheaper liquefied natural gas (LNG) will generate lower energy costs for households and businesses while also delivering cleaner, more reliable supply. Speaking at a University of the Bahamas (UoB) legal week seminar, Mr Adderley said that while he cannot provide exact figures for how the LNG generation project will affect individual electricity bills - since it is only one part of the overall energy system, and does not include transmission, distribution and grid management - the
resulting savings for The Bahamas and consumers will be “significant”. “It should be significant. We have released the past statements that our project, once fully built-out, will save the country in fuel costs north of $100m, north of maybe even $120m per year in fuel costs alone,” said Mr Adderley. “How that translates and trickles down to your electricity bill is beyond what I can speak to, other than to say it will be significant. The savings component is very important. But there are also other components, such as the reliability, the environmental benefits and the efficiency of the entire network.” Mr Adderley said the cost savings from switching to LNG are substantial and, while heavy fuel oil may seem cheaper, it is not attractive to investors because it damages the environment. He added that the transition will bring The Bahamas in line with global standards. “The world is changing. We have to change. And so whereas the
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can begin at Grand Bahama’s ‘anchor’ resort property. Amid growing scepticism from the Opposition and some in Grand Bahama that the resort’s sale to the Miami-headquartered developer will ever complete, she signalled that the Government plans to help accelerate the project’s permits and timelines given that it is significantly behind the schedule unveiled at the Heads of Agreement signing last May. Approvals will also have to be obtained from the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA). “As it relates to Concord Wilshire, the last development plans and branding partner agreements are being finalised,” Mrs Woods-Hanna told this newspaper. “The permitting
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conferences and “add consideraby to tourism”. “I am pushing for a theoretical physics centre at The Bahamas in Long Island,” the Israeli scientist wrote. “I have been in touch with the developer and he has good contacts with The Bahamas government, but I was told additional sources will probably be needed.” It is unclear whether any Bahamian government funding materialised for the Long Island project although it appears unlikely. But Epstein, clearly open to the possibility, replied within three days by saying: “Yes, I would be interested.” Professor Guendelman gave an immediate enthusuastic response, adding that the proposed Long Island physics centre could be “endorsed” as “an extension of the University of Miami” due to Professor Curtright’s involvement. While the planned physics centre project may never have started, Tribune Business has confirmed that the Israeli scientist and his University of Miami colleague still visit Long Island every year for their Bahamas
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