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Monday, April 20, 2026
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parties hail Hospital ‘repurpose’ plan Both injunction verdict amid ‘poison pill’ concern over Rosewood BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s chairman says the party will likely have to “repurpose” the second $268m New Providence hospital if elected to government amid fears the Chinese loan and construction contracts contain a “poison pill” that will “make it extremely difficult, if not impossible”, to exit them. Dr Duane Sands, speaking to Tribune Business after the Government staged Friday’s official ground-breaking for the Perpall Tract facility, told Tribune Business that the Free National Movement (FNM) had “constrained ourselves not to say we will kill the deal” given expectations that the loan agreement with Beijing-owned China Export-Import Bank contains clauses that are prohibitively expensive to break. After recently signalling the Opposition would not proceed with the new hospital if it wins the May 12 general election, Dr Sands now gave a more nuanced
Opposition chair: Exit from China loan likely ‘impossible’ Pledges FNM will ensure PMH remains ‘premier facility’ Challenges new construction given Critical Care woes
GROUND-BREAKING FOR THE NEW HOSPITAL response by suggesting a Pintard-led administration will put the facility and its financing to alternative uses - although he did not specify what. “What we need to know is to see the details of the loan agreement, and where that poison pill puts it,” he told this newspaper. “More than likely there’s going
to be no reasonable exit clause. If we have to pay $200m to get out of the deal, the real question is what are we going to repurpose that facility for? “I am certain that they have put in this contract clauses which make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, and that’s why we have constrained
Bahamas can ‘lead’ AI-driven $1.3bn healthcare cost slash BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas is “uniquely positioned to lead” on the adoption of AI-driven “health intelligence” that can improve health outcomes, detect life-threatening events before they occur and slash this nation’s annual $1.3bn healthcare costs, a local provider is arguing. Corlette Deveaux, the Bahamian co-founder and chief executive of Nassau-based Remember2.ai, told the North Eleuthera Business Outlook conference that the technology and personal health data capturing and analytical
system being developed by the company is a “game changer” that can move The Bahamas from reactive healthcare to proactive prevention. She added that a 2025 study conducted with the Ministry of Health, the findings for which were unveiled at the Medical Association of The Bahamas (MAB) conference two weeks’ ago, had shown that the technology - a wrist-band device which measures a person’s heart beat, temperature and blood pressure every five minutes - reduces both hospitalisations and healthcare spending.
DATA - See Page B8
Resort chief ‘put through ringer’ on tax incentives BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN resort owner is asserting he was “put through the ringer” by the Government in trying to access tax and investment incentives that were not approved on a timely basis with the property still having to pay “north of $300,000” in Customs duties. Henry Rolle, managing partner and general manager of Harbour Island’s The Rock House, told the North Eleuthera Business
Outlook conference that the resort “worked months” to try and obtain VAT credits and other breaks as the current ownership and management team moved to celebrate their fifth anniversary in charge. Calling on the Government to “make it make sense” for Bahamian entrepreneurs over the access and type of investment incentives available, he added that “it’s not been easy as a business owner” and said: “What it means for us, in order to get
BREAKS - See Page B6
Exuma dredging BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
DR DUANE SANDS ourselves to not say we will kill the deal. What we do know is there are extensive problems at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) where the majority of the difficult problems being faced by Bahamians are dealt with. The management of heart disease, cancers, strokes none of those are going to be addressed at this new facility.” The FNM chairman’s “poison pill” concerns may be well-founded, because clause 5.5 of the December 30, 2025, loan agreement signed between the Government and China Export-Import Bank appears to commit The Bahamas to not withdrawing from either the
BUILD - See Page B6
BOTH sides in the battle over the $200m Rosewood Exuma project are claiming victory after the Supreme Court imposed a limited injunction preventing work on “the most objectionable” aspect of the development - planned dredging and associated works in Sampson Cay’s North Bay. Yntegra Group, the Miami-based developer, and its leading opponent, the neighbouring Turtlegrass Resort & Island Club, each pronounced themselves satisfied with Friday’s ruling by Justice Leif Farquharson on the latter’s bid for an injunction that would have halted all construction and related works on the Rosewood Exuma project if fully granted. The judge, in only imposing the North Bay dredging bar, made this conditional on Turtlegrass and its principal, Bob Coughlin, providing a $3m guarantee or “undertaking” - via
a bond lodged by a Bahamas-based financial institution - to cover any damages suffered by Yntegra from the injunction-related delay should the substantive Judicial Review challenge to its project ultimately fail. And Justice Farquharson also left the door open for Yntegra and its principal, Felipe MacLean, to seek an increase in the Turtlegrass guarantee if the injunction remains in effect for a protracted period. The Rosewood Exuma developer, at the injunction hearing, had demanded that its main opponent be ordered to provide a $30m undertaking, but the judge ultimately opted for just 10 percent of that sum. Justice Farquharson’s ruling disclosed Mr MacLean’s assertion that granting the comprehensive injunction sought by Turtlegrass would have resulted in the Miamibased developer incurring $46,000 worth of losses per day. And he also voiced fears that himself
DEVELOP - See Page B7