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THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2023
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User fees to drive $263m ‘Credibility problem’ over Out Isl. airport upgrades deficit revision By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN and international travellers will ultimately have to pay user fees of up to $43 per person to finance the collective $263m redevelopment of the 14 Family Island airports put out to bid yesterday. The project information memorandum (PIM), released to interested private sector bidders, reveals that “recommendations” have already been made to levy passenger facility fees that will increase through a series of phasedin rises over a four-year period to pay for upcoming infrastructure upgrades at the major Family Island airports. The finance structure mirrors that put in place at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA)
• Passenger facility charges to pay for improvements • Levies set to be phasedin over four-year period • Airline seats up 4% over pre-COVID in December to repay investors for their collective $409.5m investment in its transformation more than a decade ago. The bidding documents confirm there will be “passenger facility fees for all redeveloped or airports planned for redevelopment, which are Grand Bahama, Exuma, North Eleuthera, Marsh Harbour, Deadman’s Cay, Great Harbour Cay, San Salvador, Cat Island.
“A passenger facility fee of $15 for departing international passengers and $12 for departing domestic passengers [will] be increased annually until 2025, ending at an amount of $43 for departing international passengers and $25 for departing domestic passengers.” Given that the initial airport user fees were due to be implemented in 2022, this
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
CHESTER COOPER schedule will likely be delayed by a year. Besides repaying private investors for financing the Family Island airport upgrades, the passenger facility fees will also help to cover their operational and ongoing maintenance costs. The fees for Bahamian/resident travellers will thus double over the four-year period,
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Reform to ‘decimate’ fiscal accountability By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government’s bid to reform “deficiencies” in key public finance laws threatens to “absolutely decimate” fiscal transparency and accountability in The Bahamas, the Opposition charged yesterday. Both sides used the mid-year Budget debate’s start to trade blows over the Davis administration’s move to repeal both the Fiscal Responsibility Act and Public Financial Management Act by consolidating them into one, large new law under the
Public Finance Management Bill 2023. Prime Minister Philip Davis KC reiterated arguments, first made in last week’s mid-year Budget presentation, that the existing Acts were “unworkable” in practice because their provisions are ill-suited to the practical on-ground realities in The Bahamas. Including the Public Procurement Act and Public Debt Management Act in this analysis, he added that the effect had been to “severely hamper the legitimate operations of the
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‘Full picture’ missing on COVID food plan claims By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE AUDITOR General should provide a “better picture” of the COVID food task force’s work, governance reformers said yesterday, after the Prime Minister accused one non-profit of using public monies for a $400,000 “spending spree”. Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) executive director, told Tribune Business the latest allegations surrounding the National Food Distribution Task Force made it “hard” for Bahamians to develop a full understanding of its achievements and
MATT AUBRY where there was room for improvement. Speaking after Philip Davis KC implied that one non-profit member of the Task Force, who he did not name, had misused taxpayer monies to finance the purchase of “high-end
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THE OPPOSITION yesterday charged that the Prime Minister has “a very big credibility problem” after he gave conflicting reasons for revising the fiscal deficit downwards just a week after unveiling the mid-year Budget. Philip Davis KC, leading off the mid-year Budget debate in the House of Assembly, initially criticised “inaccurate” media articles and headlines which last Thursday reported that both government revenues and the deficit had increased year-over-year for the six months to endDecember 2022. Stating “here are the facts”, he asserted that the deficit - which measures by how much government spending exceeds revenue - had actually decreased by $5.3m year-over-year to $276m. While the latter figure was backed by the mid-year Budget
PHILIP DAVIS KC performance book released last week, it contrasted with the $285.7m deficit - representing a $7.8m increase on 2021-2022 half-year comparatives - that was disclosed by Mr Davis in the mid-year Budget debate. When challenged on the discrepancy by Opposition finance spokesman, Kwasi Thompson, the Prime Minister switched blame from the media to his speech writers. “The figures numbers speak for themselves. Everyone can see. That was
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