business@tribunemedia.net
MONDAY, MAY 26, 2025
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Bahamians ‘not fully empowered’ without land registry reforms By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIANS will never “be fully empowered” under present land law, an attorney asserted yesterday, adding that reforms now before Parliament will allow this nation to “unlock its full economic potential”. Sharlyn Smith, who cochaired the committee overseeing and guiding the Davis administration’s land reform drive, told Tribune Business that an “increasing number of conflicts” over property and real estate ownership will likely erupt without the planned switch to a registered land system that provides “absolute title”. With the present paperbased deeds and searches system only able to offer “clear title” opinions, she explained that the two Bills now tabled in Parliament - the Land Adjudication Bill and Registered Land Bill - will pave the way to a quicker, efficient process for determining land ownership is more readily
accessible and less accessible for all Bahamians. Besides offering greater certainty over ownership and title, Ms Smith told this newspaper that the amendments - which she described as “absolutely transformative” and of at least equal importance with the Davis administration’s energy reforms - will modernise land administration and “bring us into line with most of the” British Commonwealth by finally concluding a reform effort that began over 60 years ago. “Through the system of adjudication, and its accessibility, it will make the obtaining of land title more accessible for all and incredibly less expensive,” Ms Smith said of the two Bills’ goal. “The Government is providing the infrastructure and putting in place the mechanism to allow this to happen. The only such mechanism that exists now is the Quieting Titles Act, which is an incredibly expensive process.
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Marina chief: Lease tear up ‘politically motivated’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net The Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president is seeking multi-million dollar damages from the Government over its “politically motivated” breach of the lease for a marina and parking lot project. Peter Maury, who launched his Supreme Court claim in a personal capacity on May 13, 2025, is alleging the Davis administration failed to honour a lease agreed with its predecessor for a Nassau Harbour development which would have been located close to the foot of the Sir Sidney Poitier Bridge serving Paradise Island. The businessman, who manages and operates Bay Street Marina, told this newspaper the project was initially designed to provide off-site parking for employees of Margaritaville restaurant, in which he is a principal, plus other Paradise Islandbased businesses such as Dolphin Encounters. This would have replaced their existing Paradise Island parking arrangement, which was about to cease, with staff ferried back-andforth between their workplace and mainland New Providence. Mr
IMAGES showing how the proposed Freetown Marina would have looked.
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Maury said the project would ultimately have expanded to include development of the Freetown Marina, which would provide docking and accommodation for Bahamian excursion and commercial vessels. Rather than cater to visiting foreign boaters, the ABM president his plan was intended to address the shortage of both parking and marina dock space on Paradise Island, as well as provide a cheaper alternative where Bahamian tour, excursion and other commercial marine operators
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Union chief ‘satisfied’ on Grand Lucayan workers By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A TRADE union leader says he is “satisfied we have something to go to the workers” at the Grand Lucayan with following talks with the Prime Minister over how the staff transition will be handled. Obie Ferguson KC, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, who represents the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association (BHMA) and its middle management members at that resort, told Tribune Business he met Philip Davis KC on Monday
OBIE FERGUSON over how workers’ rights including severance, benefits and employment contractual terms - will be dealt with following the
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Internet banking users up 39% amid Sand Dollar fall By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE number of Bahamian Internet banking users grew by 39 percent in 2024 to more than 164,000 despite the failure by payments providers to fully integrate the Sand Dollar digital currency. The Central Bank, in its 2024 annual report, also disclosed that the volume of digital wallet transactions declined year-over-year despite the regulator and industry’s ever-escalating drive to push consumers
to electronic banking channels. “Financial institutions recorded increased usage of Internet banking services during the review year,” the Central Bank said. “Internet banking solutions afford customers the ability to check their account balances, make transfers between personal and third-party bank accounts, pay utility bills and purchase foreign currency. “The range of Internet services varied among financial institutions, and
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