business@tribunemedia.net
Monday, February 23, 2026
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East Bay Street hotel ordered: Reapply with ‘accurate plans’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AN EAST Bay Street condo hotel and marina project has been told to re-apply for key approvals with instructions that it now “submit complete and accurate plans” for what it intends to develop on a site two properties west of the Nassau Yacht Club. The Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, in a February 17, 2026, verdict determined that the preliminary site plan approval obtained by Grantanna Holdings had been rendered “otiose”, meaning it serves no practical purpose, after the project’s own architect admitted the developer was seeking to move forward with a different design from what had been presented to secure the permit. As a result of the admissions by TDG Architects, the Board “set aside” the original approval for Grantanna Holdings, whose principal is Lorne Basden, the Small Business Development Centre’s (SBDC) chairman and Basden Elevator Services president, and ordered that the project be returned to the Town Planning Committee for a fresh application and public consultation
Project sent back to Town Planning over changes Neighbours and residents says concerns remain Scale, noise and parking fears are little changed based on the correct development plan. Acting on an appeal by attorney Norwood Rolle, who is understood to own property immediately to the east of Grantanna Holdings’ location, and his Moshan Company Ltd, the Appeal Board’s ruling stipulated: “During the course of the hearing, the Board was presented with a schematic design set prepared by TDG Architects, which differed from the plans and materials that were originally submitted to, and considered by, the Town Planning Committee.
Fisheries nervous for $50m exports on Trump tariff hike BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A NERVOUS Bahamian fisheries industry is hoping the latest Trump tariff threat to $50m in annual crawfish exports will have calmed when the new lobster season opens on August 1 after the US president moved to hike levies on all goods imported from this nation by 50 percent. Adrian LaRoda, president of The Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance (BCFA), told Tribune Business there were two timing-related factors that may mitigate the impact of Donald Trump’s latest tariff-fuelled retaliation for
DONALD TRUMP exporters to the US. The first is that, with the current Bahamian crawfish season set to close in just over a month’s time on April 1, this nation has already exported
LEVY - See Page B9
Opposition: Gov’t breached law on Budget surplus ‘myth’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s finance spokesman yesterday accused the Government of violating the law by placing $265.3m worth of borrowings into the National Investment Fund without obtaining parliamentary approval in a bid to maintain “the myth” of its forecast $75.5m Budget surplus. Kwasi Thompson, the east Grand Bahama MP, in a statement responding to revelations by Tribune Business called on the Government to “set the record
straight” in the mid-year Budget - due to be unveiled by Prime Minister Philip Davis KC in the House of Assembly on Wednesday - and “clearly disclose the legal authority by which it has transferred the surplus from last year’s $1.067bn foreign currency bond issue into the Fund. Asserting that the Public Debt Management Act gives “no blank cheque”, and mandates that all government borrowing proceeds be deposited into its consolidated fund and not removed unless approved by Parliament, he
LIABILITIES - See Page B12
“The Board found that the proposal presented on appeal was not the same proposal upon which the Town Planning Committee made its decision, and it was conveyed by TDG Architects that it was not its intention to proceed with the former plans approved and, in fact, it was intended to proceed using the new plans. “In our view, this abandonment renders the approval under appeal otiose and is thus hereby set aside so that a new application can be presented and considered under the purview of the Town Planning Committee,” the Appeal Board, chaired by Dawson Malone, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, said. “Accordingly, the Board directs that the matter be remitted to the Town Planning Committee, and that the second respondent [TDG Architects] submit a fresh application, together with complete and accurate plans and supporting documentation, for consideration in accordance with the Planning and Subdivision Act.” Mr Basden could not be reached for comment before press time, although Tribune Business left a detailed message and contacts at
DECISION - See Page B4
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BAHAMAS POWER & LIGHT (BPL)
‘We’ll see how watertight this sweetheart deal’ for BPL grid is BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s chairman has signalled that a Free National Movement (FNM) administration will review the New Providence energy grid’s outsourcing “to see how watertight this sweetheart deal is”, as he argued: “I don’t think you could have agreed a sweeter deal anywhere else.” Dr Duane Sands, reacting to the Government’s release of documents detailing the agreements between itself and Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) on one side, and Bahamas Grid
Company and its manager, Island Grid Solutions, told Tribune Business that the benefits stemming from the deal to upgrade and maintain Nassau’s transmission and distribution network appear “lop sided” in favour of the latter’s private sector investors. While conceding that BPL’s customers, namely Bahamian households and businesses, will enjoy some “benefit” from the arrangement, he argued that the main advantages will accrue to Island Grid, a vehicle headed by Eric Pike, chair of North Carolina-based
REFORM - See Page B11