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TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2024
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New Providence home sales hit fastest pace in two years • Closed land sales double compared to ‘23 • Demand absorbs previous ‘inventory surge’ • Realtor: ‘Nothing alarming’ for near future
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net NEW Providence real estate sold at the fastest pace for two years in the 2024 second quarter with a well-known realtor yesterday saying the market had achieved a state of “balance”. David Morley, Morley Realty’s principal, told Tribune Business it was difficult to predict “which way it’s heading” with the sector having “levelled off” as buyers
Judge: Medical Act ‘not drafted carefully’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A SUPREME Court judge has branded the Medical Act as badly written in finding that Parliament intended to permit specialist physicians to challenge any refusal to register them in The Bahamas. Justice Loren Klein, in a July 8, 2024, verdict said that to rule otherwise would lead to “an unjust and absurd result” with the judgment “of considerable significance” to doctors and physicians over their right to appeal any Bahamas Medical Council denial of their registration application. He added that the Act, which is the principal law regulating the medical profession after being passed by Parliament in 2014, “was perhaps not drafted with the care it might have been”. This was exposed by a legal action brought against the Bahamas Medical Council by Dr Gauri Shirodkar over its February 17, 2023, refusal to register her as a radiology specialist The Council declined her application because it was “not satisfied” she had obtained the necessary qualifications from a medical school it recognised, such as the Royal Colleges of the United Kingdom (UK) or their equivalent in The Bahamas and the
Diplomate Boards of the United States of America (USA). Dr Shirodkar had successfully challenged an earlier January 13, 2021, registration refusal via separate Judicial Review proceedings. Justice Klein, ruling on that case, found the position taken by the Bahamas Medical Council was “unlawful, as well as irrational and unreasonable”. He ruled that the application be reconsidered, triggering the present action. For the Bahamas Medical Council argued that the Medical Act’s section 21, which deals with the ability of doctors and physicians to challenge any refusal to permit them to practice in this nation, gives no statutory right of appeal to specialists such as Dr Shirodkar. Dr Merceline DahlRegis, the Government’s former chief medical officer during the COVID-19 pandemic, set out the Council’s position in an affidavit. Justice Klein noted: “It raises a narrow but important point of statutory interpretation. “Not only might the determination of the issue be dispositive of the appeal, but it is of considerable significance to the medical profession in connection with the appeal rights of specialists and the administration of the Act.”
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absorbed much of last year’s “inventory surge” across the major island markets. He added, though, that there was “no doubt” Bahamian realtors and their firms continue to enjoy strong sales despite not attaining the heights of the postCOVID “golden years” of 2021 and 2022. Mr Morley said the latest statistics “show a really healthy, consistent market” with “nothing alarming” on the horizon despite the looming US presidential election and
uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy. He spoke after his firm, drawing on data from the Bahamas Real Estate Association’s (BREA) Multiple Listing System (MLS), noted that the market’s performance varied by island during the three months to endJune 2024. Morley Realty’s 2024 second quarter report noted, in particular, that home and land sales on New Providence hit their fastest pace for two years during this period.
Private pilots: ‘We don’t need’ airport upgrades By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMAS Flying Ambassador is arguing that the cost of Family Island airport upgrades should be placed on the commercial airlines rather than private pilots who “haven’t asked for and don’t want” them. Rick Gardner, director of CST Flight Services, which provides support services to the general aviation industry, told Tribune
Business that the new and increased fees likely to be levied by private investors/operators to finance Family Island airport overhauls should be borne by the airlines that will be the main beneficiaries of such improvements. His comments came as Dr Kenneth Romer, the Government’s aviation director, told Tribune Business that Bahamas Customs has agreed to “hold ongoing” talks with the private aviation
THE Attorney General yesterday pledged to end the VAT Act “nightmare” by consolidating all the past decade’s changes into a single law that will be reprinted this year. Ryan Pinder KC said a Commissioner of Revision has been appointed to consolidate and reissue much-amended legislation,
starting with the VAT Act. He described it as a “nightmare” for businesses to follow and comply due to multiple amendments that have been made annually for the past nine years. “What law revision is, it’s a periodic review of all of your legislation with a mindset to consolidate and reissue Bills so they’re all consolidated, but also take a holistic approach at your entire legislative regime because some laws may be outdated. Some laws may
industry over the fee increases it has imposed with effect from July 1, 2024. Referring to the letter sent to Philip Davis KC by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the world’s largest private pilot body which represents between 300,000 to 400,000 plane owners and aviators, Dr Romer told this newspaper via messaged reply: “We are aware of a letter by AOPA addressed to the
SEE PAGE B4 • Argue airlines should pick up 100% of cost • Say Bahamas could lose 50k-100k flights • Aviation chief: ‘Ongoing’ talks with sector Prime Minister and minister of finance regarding the imposition of fees. “The Bahamas Customs Department has committed to holding ongoing dialogue with them with our support. As aviation and tourism professionals, we sincerely recognise the
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Controversy over Athol Island permit’s tabling By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AN Opposition MP says he will confirm with the House of Assembly’s clerk whether the Government tabled an environmental permit for a dock amid growing controversy over Athol Island. Adrian White, the St Anne’s MP, has adamantly told Tribune Business on four separate occasions - once after viewing a video recording of House proceedings last Wednesday, July 17 - that Leon Lundy, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, never tabled the
environmental go-ahead for development activity on the island as he promised during the morning session. However, the purported certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) was provided to this newspaper by a regular source who said he obtained it from the House of Assembly. And this newspaper understands that government sources are asserting the permit was tabled by Mr Lundy just as he had pledged. The CEC obtained by Tribune Business shows it was granted to Andrew Hanna on February 16, 2024, for the construction
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Law reprint to end VAT ‘nightmare’ By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
With buyer demand ensuring that the time required to sell new home listings “remains very low”, Morley Realty said: “Homes in Nassau and Paradise Island are selling faster than they have in the past two years, and this trend is also observed in the land market for this area. “Conversely, the land market across the other four islands has remained stable, though there have been quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) increases in days on the
not need to be on the books and to clean that up,” Mr Pinder said. “Historically, we’ve never had a focused revision section and that’s why our laws are so choppy. I mean, you go through the VAT bill and amendments, it’s a disaster. You have amendments that add things, amendments that delete things that were added, amendments that were added again, and to follow it is a nightmare. “We look to issue a reprint, we call it, because
RYAN PINDER KC it’s not a revised edition. Revised edition is the whole compendium; reprint of the VAT legislation this year that will be a full
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WOODEN DOCK AT ATHOL ISLAND