business@tribunemedia.net
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
$ 6.95
$ 7.35
$ 6.95
$ 7.06
11,000 new home ‘deficit’ in decade through COVID BY NEIL HARTNELL TRIBUNE Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
adequate homes for low-tomiddle income Bahamians is further “deteriorating” due to multiple deficiencies besides “insufficient supply”. It cited the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation’s “inefficiencies and under-capitalisation” as a particular impediment to improving home ownership access for families since its mandate is to provide mortgage financing for the very income groups struggling to purchase housing. The study said it is only capable or originating $2m$3m in new mortgages per month - between one-sixth to one-third of the $12m required by already-qualified borrowers.
THE BAHAMAS suffered an annual 900-unit shortfall between new home completions and buyer demand for an entire decade up to and through COVID-19, with government rent controls and regulations further restricting affordable housing supply. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in a just-released report unveiling a $50m proposal to develop sustainable housing opportunities in The Bahamas, asserted that access to affordable,
GB water supplier is urged: ‘Justify’ planned rate hikes BY NEIL HARTNELL TRIBUNE Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net GRAND Bahama’s monopoly water supplier must “justify” proposed average rate increases of between $2.57 and $278.60 per month, an ex-Chamber of Commerce president said yesterday, especially since this has to be approved by its owner’s affiliate. Dillon Knowles, the immediate past head of the Grand Bahama Chamber, acknowledged to Tribune Business that “there is an inherent conflict” in the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) regulating and approving Grand Bahama Utility Company’s tariff prices because the latter is 100 percent owned by Port Group Ltd. The latter is a sister company to the GBPA, with both enjoying common shareholders and owners in the St George and Hayward families. “Obviously there is an inherent conflict of interest,” Mr Knowles conceded, acknowledging that Grand Bahama Utility Company, the water provider, is one of the last such entities where this exists due to the GBPA and its shareholders having totally exited any interest in Grand Bahama Power Company many years ago. “The last time the water company had to make a rate request to the GBPA was after Dorian, where it found itself in a situation of having to manufacture water, purify water, rather than pump water out of the ground and sell it,” the ex-GB Chamber president added. Grand Bahama’s previously abundant wellfields were contaminated by the Category Five hurricane’s storm surge that drove salt water inland. “That was a bit of an understandable request,” Mr Knowles added of the previous increase, “but it still caused a bit of consternation among the general public who had been used to having water at a certain price for a number of decades. “Any change, by human nature, results in a reaction. Whether this application is justifiable or not should be made public. If they haven’t, they should put the request in the public domain like they did with the Grand Bahama Power Company rates request.” Grand Bahama Utility Company, in a statement announcing the proposed water rate increases that must be approved by the GBPA before they can take effect, pledged that “more than 85 percent” of its roughly 11,500 customers will see monthly bills increase by an average of less than $15 based on what it is proposing. Large water consumers, chiefly the likes of hotels, Freeport’s industrial sector and other businesses, will see the steepest average increases of $23.36 per month and $278.60 per month, for those using between 10,001 and 20,000 gallons and over 20,000 gallons, respectively, as Grand Bahama Utility Company seeks to shift the burden to non-residential customers. It estimates that 1,459 customers will pay these highest tariff rates.
PROPOSAL - See Page B5
IDB warns Gov’t: Rent controls, regulation shrink housing supply Unveils $50m reform as no new Gov’t rental homes in 30 years Mortgage Corp only meets onethird of $12m qualified ‘pipeline’ And the IDB, pointing out that the Government has developed no new public rental housing for three decades, with the existing stock limited to 148 units and many suffering from deferred maintenance, added that the existing regulatory regime acts
as a disincentive for private landlords to enter the market and increase the supply of affordable properties. Citing land use planning and zoning requirements that discourage development of multi-residence properties, the IDB report
singled out “rent control regulation and tenant protections” as “adversely” affecting the long-term rental market targeted primarily at Bahamians. It added that this has resulted in 20,000 dwellings being left vacant and an 80 percent growth in short-term vacation rentals as property owners eye greater returns from this segment. The report’s findings have emerged just as the Davis administration plans to increase, not lessen, regulation on the private long-term rental market. Its 2026 election manifesto, ‘Blueprint for Progress’, pledged to create a Residential Tenancy Authority with inspection,
$ 6.89 enforcement and sanctioning powers, plus mandate that all private landlords register their properties and ensure they meet “enforceable minimum habitability standards”. Keith Bell, minister of housing and land reform, has confirmed that the Government is working on yet-to-be released legislative reforms for the long-term rental market and relationship between landlords and tenants. To crack down on so-called rogue landlords, the Davis administration is aiming to establish “a national rental property register and a regulator with real enforcement power so that every Bahamian renter is protected”. The Rent Control Act already prohibits landlords from earning annual rental income that exceeds a property’s assessed or declared value. The additional reforms, which include plans to “publish a public registry of landlords found in violation” and thus
STRUGGLE - See Page B4
Watchdog questions Senator over $1.5m voucher controversy BY NEIL HARTNELL TRIBUNE Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net PARLIAMENT’S spending watchdog has questioned Jerome Fitzgerald, the Prime Minister’s former senior policy adviser, as part of its probe into whether taxpayer monies financed building vouchers distributed in the name of PLP candidates prior to the May 2026 general election. Michael Pintard, the Opposition’s leader, revealed to Tribune Business on Monday night that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which the Free National Movement (FNM) controls, has interviewed Senator Fitzgerald, now minister of economic affairs in the second Davis administration, as part of its inquiries into the $1.5m worth of vouchers acquired by the Ministry of Finance in March and April. These is nothing to suggest Mr Fitzgerald has done anything wrong in relation to the vouchers controversy, but Mr Pintard said his answers had resulted in the Committee summoning two “very
Two ‘senior Ministry of Finance’ officials questioned yesterday Pintard hopes for final election voucher report by end-October Governance chief: National Investment Fund could hurt trust
Atlantis ‘not on market’ following record 2026 BY ANNELIA NIXON TRIBUNE Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
MICHAEL PINTARD
MATT AUBRY
senior people from the Ministry of Finance” for questioning that was due to take place yesterday. The FNM leader, describing these interviews as necessary to “close certain loopholes”, said the Public Accounts Committee is now “at the tail end” of its probe into the vouchers and said a final report on its findings could be released by the end of October
if procedures remain on schedule. “We have a meeting tomorrow [yesterday] where we will continue that by asking for finance officers from the ministry to come in,” Mr Pintard told this newspaper. “We interviewed the senior policy advisor to the Prime Minister, Jerome Fitzgerald, and that precipitated
ATLANTIS’S top executive yesterday asserted that the Paradise Island mega resort is “not on the market right now” as it targets “a very strong” year-end and 2027 performance following “another record year”. Audrey Oswell, the destination resort’s president and managing director, declined to comment, though, on the temporary closure of its Coral Towers complex for what could be as many as eight weeks until the end of October as Atlantis prepares for Thanksgiving and the Christmas and New Year winter season. Conceding that speculation over the ownership of Atlantis has persisted for several years, after two formal sales processes initiated by its owner failed to secure a buyer, Ms Oswell said: “I can tell you that the resort is not on the market right now, and the rumour mill is always active. So that rumour’s been stirring around for quite a few years.” Atlantis has been owned by Toronto-headquartered Brookfield Asset Management since late 2011. Brookfield acquired the resort through a debt-for-equity restructuring
INVESTIGATE - See Page B4
OUTLOOK - See Page B5
Freedom of Information: People must trust system BY NEIL HARTNELL TRIBUNE Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net GOVERNANCE reformers yesterday urged the Government to go beyond simply bringing the Freedom of Information Act into effect by “creating a system that people will actually use and trust”. The Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), while hailing the release of the Freedom of Information Act’s (FOIA) regulations for public consultation, argued that “the central test” whenever these come into force to accompany the 2017 Act will be whether regular Bahamian citizens can “use the system easily, affordably and confidently” to understand government activities that impact them. The other side of this, the advocacy group argued, is that the Government and public authorities must “have the capacity and clear rules needed to respond consistently” and not simply ignore,
ATLANTIS
neglect or stonewall valid Freedom of Information requests for no legitimate reason. And, going beyond the regulations themselves, ORG said it is vital that the Government provide the necessary funding, staffing and other resources, and training to permit the Freedom of Information Act and accompanying regulations that give it teeth to be fully implemented. Praising the Davis administration’s “important and long-awaited” step in publishing the regulations, and seeking to move the Freedom of Information Act beyond merely just a law to something that is “usable” and practical, ORG said: “The Bahamas is closer than it has been in years to making Freedom of Information a practical reality. That progress should be acknowledged. “The objective now should not simply be to bring regulations into force. It should be to create a system that people will actually use
ACCESS - See Page B5