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TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2023
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Budget deals marinas ‘another slap in face’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A FORMER Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president yesterday asserted that the Budget has dealt the industry “another slap in the face” through multiple fee increases for dockage and vessel registration. Peter Maury, who operates Bay Street Marina, told Tribune Business the hikes contained in legislative reforms accompanying the 2023-2024 Budget will not fall solely on wealthy foreign boat owners and charter guests as the Davis administration likely intended. He explained that, with dock rental contracts and associated
terms already agreed with clients in advance, Bahamian marina operators throughout the country will have little choice but to “eat” at least a portion of the 20 percent dock fee increase imposed on their commercial clients. As a result, Mr Maury said there could be “a direct loss of revenue” to locally-owned companies. He also voiced consternation over the fee increases, and the way they have been structured, in the Boat Registration (Yacht) (Amendment) Rules 2023 which were also tabled in the House of Assembly with the 2023-2024 Budget. Noting seven and ten-fold increases in first-time registration fees for particular classes of vessel, the former ABM president argued that the gulf between
these and the new annual registration fees set out in the rules “makes no sense” given that the former are far higher. Arguing that the first-time vessel registration fees are “prohibitive”, and will deter vessel owners from bringing their boats to The Bahamas to be registers, he asserted that it sent the signal of “don’t come in the door” to a high-spending tourism industry segment that the country has been seeking to grow and develop following the key role it played in driving the post-COVID rebound. Pointing out that the marina and boating industry had to contend with the imposition of 10 percent VAT on yacht charter fees in the prior year’s Budget, on top of the already-existing 4
percent Port Department fee, Mr Maury queried whether the Government’s “intention is to kill the marinas”. The Ports Authorities (Amendment) Bill 2023 stipulates in its “objects and reasons” section that the purpose is “to increase the fee payable for the use of various marine structures” such as docks, jetties, groins, moorings, causeways and pipelines. And the “pierage rate”, based on a vessel’s registered length, is to increase by one cent per foot to eight cents. “It’s a 20 percent increase on the docks,” Mr Maury told Tribune Business of the per foot fee to be paid by marinas’ commercial vessel customers with effect from
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• Ex-ABM chief singles out 20% dock fee hike • Warns Bahamian operators may absorb rise • Also fears ‘prohibitive’ registration fee jump
Haywards ready for GBPA ‘sell down’ to right partner
‘Can’t tax Bahamas into better health’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
By NEIL HARTNELL and YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporters ykemp@tribunemedia.net
THE Hayward family is willing to part with some of its Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) ownership interest to aid Freeport’s revival, it was revealed yesterday, but does not believe the Government should take “majority” control. Rupert Hayward, grandson of former GBPA co-chair, Sir Jack Hayward, told Tribune Business his family is “here to stay” and ready to sell a portion of its 50 percent GBPA equity ownership “to the right partners at the right price” - so that Freeport can attract the investment and skills it needs to drive the city’s transformation.
• Not in favour of Gov’t ‘majority’ Freeport control • Sir Jack’s grandson says family is ‘here to stay’ • Warns fight over Port is ‘only to GB’s detriment’ Speaking after Prime Minister Philip Davis KC last week placed the GBPA and its owners, the Hayward and St George families, on notice that he plans to take “decisive action” to reverse Freeport’s near two-decade decline, he said himself and “blue chip” partners have already presented the
Government with a plan to do just that. Warning that “fighting between key stakeholders will only be to the detriment of the people of Grand Bahama”, Mr Hayward told this newspaper he hopes Mr Davis will “actively support” his proposal given that the Government plays a major
RUPERT HAYWARD role in it, with collaboration between Nassau and the GBPA is critical to driving Freeport forward. “We are long-term stakeholders in Grand Bahama, long-term shareholders in the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) and its group of companies,” Mr Hayward said. “We recognise change needs to happen, and we recognise a very powerful shareholder base needs to be created. “We think the Hayward family, given its 70 years’ of experience, have a unique
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Gov’t eyes air freight terminal outsourcing By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
CHESTER COOPER
THE Government is eyeing a proposal to outsource Lynden Pindling International Airport’s (LPIA) freight terminal to private sector developers and operators, it has been revealed. Documents accompanying the 2023-2024 Budget, in an annex detailing private-public partnerships
(PPP), lay out the “justification to design, finance, build and operate a new air freight terminal”. “The purpose of this proposal is for the Government to transfer the property consisting of the Air Freight Terminal to a special purpose vehicle (SPV) owned by the Government, and then to lease that property to JDL in order to design, finance, build and operate a new
BPL set for a ‘maturity audit’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net REGULATORS are searching for consultants to conduct a “maturity audit” of Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) in a bid to assess the energy monopoly’s performance and develop better regulatory oversight. The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), in the tender document, said it
has a duty to ensure BPL’s electricity tariff rates are “reasonable, reflect efficiently incurred costs and are not inconsistent with, or in contravention of, the Electricity Act and allow an opportunity for public input”. It added: “URCA has taken the decision to perform a consultancy services for an audit of the performance and organisational maturity of the Bahamas Power & Light Company
(BPL). This to establish baseline performance indicators to guide URCA oversight on how to assess its regulatory impact on price controls and tariffs, accounts separation guidelines and other regulatory matters; “The objective is to have effective regulatory oversights of BPL that will be efficient and proportionate to their purpose, and without imposing unnecessary regulatory burden.... A
air freight terminal,” the Budget documents state. No further details are provided, and “JDL” is not identified. The closest matches, based on Internet searches conducted by this newspaper, are a Taiwan-headquartered company, JD Logistics, and a Wisconsin outfit with a similar name. Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of
SEE PAGE B5 performance and organisational maturity audit of BPL is best viewed as a diagnostic examination of the status quo of the organisation. The proposed audit will therefore seek to independently evaluate the company’s performance status and to establish a baseline for its performance going forward. “A baseline study of the company’s performance will allow URCA to have effective regulatory oversights of BPL that will be efficient and proportionate
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CARIBBEAN Bottling Company’s top executive yesterday warned “you cannot tax a country into good health” amid private sector fears that a so-called ‘sugar tax’ will be a “poison pill” for small business. Walter Wells, the local Coca-Cola producer’s chief executive and president, told Tribune Business he was “encouraged” by the Prime Minister’s confirmation that such ‘sin taxes’ will not be introduced in the near future. Noting that the introduction of such a levy has been oft-debated for many years, he added: “It’s nothing new to us in terms of being a possibility.” Reforms to the Customs Management Act, tabled with the 20232024 Budget, enable the minister of finance to make regulations “providing for the payment of a health and wellness levy on the importation of specified goods,
and domestically manufactured goods, deemed to have a negative impact on health and wellness”. Mr Wells said this merely gives the Government “a greater degree of flexibility as to when it happens. I cannot say that, in and of itself, alarms me. The Government always has the ability to do it when it wants to do it, but it normally happens in the Budget process. “I cannot really debate whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. My position is that I would prefer to have no tax. If this is to be a tax, to what extent it would compromise our business from an industry standpoint, right now it’s an open question. I’m certainly encouraged by the fact it’s not something stuck in the Budget; take it or leave it,” Mr Wells added. The Caribbean Bottling chief, though, said sugary drinks are only part of the health and wellness issues facing Bahamians. “The debate makes it sound like sugary drinks are the cause
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