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TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021
$5.00 Baha Mar owner: We’re being pitted against AG By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHA Mar’s current owner is voicing increasing concern that it will be sucked into a legal battle with the Attorney General’s Office after failing to obtain an injunction to block Sarkis Izmirlian’s document demands. Legal papers obtained by Tribune Business reveal that Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) and its affiliates have failed to persuade the Delaware Chancery Court to bar Baha Mar’s original owner from issuing a request for judicial assistance to The Bahamas and its Supreme Court. Attorneys for the Hong Kong-based conglomerate revealed in a July 2, 2021, letter that Chancellor
BAHA MAR Kathaleen McCormick refused to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Mr Izmirlian and his Baha Mar Properties vehicle on the basis that it had “not made a sufficient showing that it... faced injury” as a result of further discovery demands. As a result, Mr Izmirlian is presently free to seek further documents from CTFE’s Bahamian affiliate, Perfect Luck Assets, via the New York State Supreme Court to bolster his $2.25bn
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‘Can’t rest on laurels’ over 47% FDI rise
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas “cannot rest on its laurels” despite leading all small island developing states (SIDS) in the amount of foreign direct investment attracted in 2020, a governance reformer warned yesterday. Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) executive director, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas needs to adopt a more strategic, targeted approach to attracting sustainable foreign direct investment (FDI) despite receiving almost $900m in such inflows amid the
MATT AUBRY COVID-19 pandemic. The just-released World Investment Report 2021, produced by United Nations (UN) agency, UNCTAD, revealed that The Bahamas attracted more than double the amount of FDI received by another so-called SIDS states during 2020.
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LNG supplier funded hotel power move By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A BIMINI resort developer has revealed that its entrance into private power generation was largely financed by its liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel supplier, New Fortress Energy. RAV Bahamas, owned by Gerardo Capo and Genting’s Resorts World Bimini partner, disclosed in its responses to the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA)
consultation on the tariff review for public electricity suppliers that its power plant investment has been financed by “a non-traditional technique”. “RAV commented that the company has financed the acquisition of its generating assets using a non-traditional technique,” URCA said in its statement of results. “The capital cost of the units is being financed by RAV’s fuel supplier and the cost is being recovered
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‘Frustration at a peak’ on $90m project delay By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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N Elbow Cay developer yesterday revealed “frustration has reached a peak” over obstacles impeding a $90m project that could help “supercharge” Abaco’s post-Dorian economic revival. Matt Winslow, a second home resident on the Cay, told Tribune Business he has been unable to obtain government assistance to clear the former Elbow Cay Club property that he acquired and obtained all necessary approvals to redevelop prior to the category five storm’s strike in September 2019. Having allowed fellow Elbow Cay and Hope Town residents to use the 19-acre parcel as a temporary site for dumping Dorian-related debris, he disclosed that nine to ten months’ worth of pleas to the Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA) to remove this waste via barge has yet to produce any action (see other article on Page 1B). And, besides two massive
• Will ‘supercharge’ Elbow Cay with hundreds of jobs • But months of pleas fail to remove Dorian’s debris • Govt blames shanty town bar for no ‘squatter’ help A VIEW of Elbow Cay with debris.
debris piles that are several storeys high, Mr Winslow said he now faces the additional challenge posed by an estimated 100-200 “squatters” who are living in old, abandoned structures and tents on the former Elbow Cay Club site. Describing the situation as fraught with health and safety hazards for those persons, he explained that after giving them numerous warnings to leave he has now assembled a demolition team to take down these old structures and clear the site.
However, Mr Winslow explained that the government authorities - including the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Immigration Department - have declined to help ensure the existing residents leave in a safe and orderly manner on the basis that the recent Supreme Court ruling and injunction forbidding the demolition of so-called “shanty towns” prohibits their involvement in any form. Emphasising that he has “nothing but compassion and empathy” for those
persons occupying his land, the developer and second home owner revealed he is now seeking to hire a private security firm and will consult with attorneys to determine whether demolition activities can proceed on July 15. “Frustration has reached a peak,” Mr Winslow told Tribune Business. “We’re a family that is focused on preserving the community, and we’ve been patient, but at some point we need help from the government to help get this land clear. “My project is less important than rebuilding the community, but it will create jobs, supercharge the economy, and infuse millions of dollars into Abaco... It’s going to be a boutique, independent luxury resort and resort community with approximately 40 hotel keys and 25 residences. “Before Dorian we were working very
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Cays ‘feel neglected’ over Dorian recovery By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net RESIDENTS on Abaco’s multiple cays “feel neglected” by Hurricane Dorian relief efforts, an Elbow Cay developer charged yesterday, amid perceptions that wealthier residents will “pay for everything”. Matt Winslow, who is leading the $90m effort to redevelop the former Elbow Cay Club (see other article on Page 1B), told Tribune Business that Hope Town and the rest of the island “didn’t get the support the community needed after Dorian” with the government perceived as focusing its efforts on mainland Abaco and
• Islands ‘didn’t get the support the community needed’ • Perception wealthy home owners ‘pay for everything’ • Developer waiting nine-ten months for promised aid Grand Bahama. Disclosing that he now needs the government’s help to remove both Dorian debris and “squatters” from the Elbow Cay Club property, so that it can help drive the island’s economic revival post-storm and COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Winslow said his pleas for assistance have thus far produced little to no action. Having allowed fellow Elbow Cay residents to use the 19-acre property as an alternative location for depositing Dorian-related debris, while two other sites
were cleared, he disclosed to this newspaper that this was only done “with the understanding and agreement that the Disaster Reconstruction Authority would barge it off the island”. “They have yet to fulfill their promise to me,” Mr Winslow added, revealing that two massive debris piles “a couple of storeys high” remain on his property some nine to ten months later. “They have been sitting there for some nine to ten months with the promise that they will assist in helping to remove them
so I can start my project,” he told this newspaper. “At that same time I had conversations with the Disaster Reconstruction Authority and I told them in no uncertain terms that I thought we didn’t get the support - and I can only speak for Elbow Cay - but we didn’t get the support the community needed after Dorian. “It’s all private dollars that built up the island, restored the docks and primary school, and we would
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