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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2025
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Exuma anchorage deal controversy Gov’t: Competitive bid for mooring deal ‘not needed’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government last night defended the leasing of 49 mooring/anchorage sites in the Exuma Cays as “a significant step forward” for marine conservation and the country’s “sustainable boating infrastructure”. Pushing back at concerns that the lease deal with Bahamas Moorings amounts to privatisation of these locations by handing a monopoly to a private company, the Davis administration said itself - rather than the local government authorities - issued “a cease and desist” order to buoy installation until all the necessary approvals and permits had been obtained. In a statement, the Government said the project had been approved by the Cabinet almost three years ago in June 2022 but it was not until January 2025 that the lease agreement was
concluded with Bahamas Moorings Company. It argued that the move was justified because of the damage done to the Bahamian seabed by past “unregulated anchoring”, which threatens to impact the seagrass meadows and other marine/blue economy assets vital to this nation’s ambitions to turn ‘carbon sinks’ into carbon credits. The Davis administration, asserting that the Government has an equity ownership stake in Bahamas Moorings Company, although it did not specify how much, said the company has agreed to install 253 moorings at “key locations throughout the Exuma Cays” apart from in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. It also sought to justify why the deal was not put out to competitive bidding via a public tender. “This $2.5m private investment represents a significant step forward
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Marinas president brands mooring monopoly ‘insane’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AN Exuma-wide boat mooring/ anchorage deal branded as “insane” by Bahamian marina chiefs has been halted by local government authorities due to the purported absence of key approvals. Bahamas Moorings Company, which according to documents obtained by Tribune Business has secured a 21-year seabed lease for 49 separate anchorage/moorage sites spread throughout the Exuma Cays, was on Friday ordered to “cease and desist” what the island’s administrator described as an “unauthorised mooring installation”. The move came after the lease, seemingly signed by the Prime Minister in his capacity as minister responsible for Crown Land on January 25, 2025, sparked consternation, bewilderment and anger among boaters/yachters, impacted Family Island communities and others who all said they were blindsided by revelations of this deal.
Besides raising questions over the Davis administration’s apparent lack of transparency and failure to consult Out Island communities, other observers also challenged why a deal of this nature was not put out to competitive bidding via a request for proposal (RFP). And they queried why the Government had not adopted a different public-private partnership (PPP) model by retaining the seabed and hiring a private operator. Instead, several sources suggested the lease deal represents a privatisation of all safe, feasible anchorage and mooring sites throughout the Exuma cays outside of those in the Exuma Lands and Sea Park. In effect, they said the Government has given a private company a monopoly over these sites where it will be “mandatory” for boats and yachts to pay the fees levied by Bahamas Moorings Company. Peter Maury, the Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president, argued to Tribune Business that the arrangement “doesn’t even make sense” while agreeing that it creates a monopoly. And Eric Carey, the
BUOYS being installed in Exuma cays. ex-Bahamas National Trust (BNT) executive director, warned that the deal “must not become a licence to print money” that raises costs to such an extent that it drives high-spending boaters from The Bahamas. This newspaper can reveal that the many of those involved in the Bahamas Moorings Company deal have close links to the Office of the Prime Minister and senior persons who work in it. Of the two principals named in the lease, Tribune Business
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Bahamasair passengers hit by long Friday delays By NEIL HARTNELL and FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporters nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMASAIR passengers were unable to return to New Providence until the early hours of Saturday morning following two mechanical breakdowns that left just one of its ATR turbo prop planes in service. One frustrated traveller, speaking on question of anonymity, said: “Suffice to say I know I am, and I’m sure that the Bahamian public is, definitely fed up with Bahamasair and their constant delays. Tonight, February 21, is the worst of
TRACY COOPER them. I was supposed to be on a flight from Marsh Harbour to Nassau. I have been sitting in this terminal from 4pm only to be brought with constantly hourly increment of delays.
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Chief Justice ‘impropriety’ over Crown Land’s theft By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Chief Justice has blasted “impropriety” by successive foreign investors who hatched a scheme to “wrongfully acquire” Crown Land that included a public road reservation in Harbour Island. Sir Ian Winder, in a February 20, 2025, verdict, ruled that Laura Dodge and Sunset Harbour Resorts had both “engaged in a systematic” effort to take property they knew belonged to the Government and, by extension, the Bahamian people which had been reserved for a road reservation.
SIR IAN WINDER In rejecting Ms Dodge’s petition to obtain a certificate of title to the Crown Land, which was divided into two plots sized 3,473 square feet and 3,389 square feet, Sir Ian said he
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