By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

Prime Minister Christie said his government has to have an immediate meeting with the I–Group, which was responsible for the Mayaguana airport’s upgrade.

His government, he said, is “not pleased” with its relationship with the development company, which should have rehabilitated the airport, inclusive of lights and resurfacing of the runway.

The Prime Minister’s comments came after a chartered aircraft attempting to land on the unlit airport to pick up an ill patient for hospital in Nassau, crashed into a truck killing the mother, sister, and Canadian brother-in-law of former FNM MP Sidney Collie. The family was in the truck. Two other persons in the aircraft were injured. The truck was one of two vehicles, “strategically” parked at the side of the airstrip so that their headlights could assist the pilot in landing.

Mr Christie said the government cannot allow the airport to remain in its present condition.

“For me, personally I am not at all happy with the relationship that exists today between my government and the I-Group. We had a joint venture agreement, which enabled the government through the Hotel Corporation to be at the table as partners and therefore to cause everything to take place in a timely fashion,” he said.

“Once the agreement was changed, under the Ingraham administration, where they became the owners of the land, one has to wait on them to fulfil the terms of the agreement left in place. They were doing some work at the airport, I am told by the Minister that testing was being done on the airport as to whether or not the work was being done effectively for an airstrip and there were questions coming out of that and so there is a compelling urgency for  the government of the Bahamas to meet with the I-Group because the government cannot allow a situation to exist, not withstanding agreements, the airport remains unlighted.”

The former administration signed a revised Heads of Agreement for the $1.8 billion Mayaguana-based I-Group project last February. The original deal signed under the former Christie administration in 2006 was a 50/50 joint venture between the Government, by way of the Hotel Corporation, and the I-Group, with both parties owning the development project under the umbrella of the Mayaguana Development Company.

The first phase of the I-Group’s Mayaguana development called for the construction of an airstrip to accommodate Dash 8 traffic, and an airport terminal.

Mr Christie said the issue with lighting has been a longstanding one and an issue his government sought to resolve in 2007.

“This is an issue very, very important issue, that is being able to have flights go into islands and extract people who have some very emergency medical problems and so with respect to Mayaguana there was a special regime in place that when we were in  power, we entered into an agreement with the I-Group, where they would have had certain obligations to develop the airport and to develop other aspects of Mayaguana,” he said.

“I made a speech today to show how the best plans in the world are derailed by political differences and because when the FNM came into power they had a different approach where they had to review the agreement and ultimately change it, but kept the same obligations on the part of the developer to develop the airport. The fact of the matter is it did not have lights and that they have been going in there and taking people out on the emergency basis by the runway being lit.”

“Before we demitted office in 2007, we had 23 airstrips we lit with solar lighting, which is obviously necessary for them. We actually did Inagua and because of the relationship with the I-Group, we were relying on that part of the airport to be done by them. The fact of the matter is a very, very horrific accident took place and clearly we have to do two things: We have to have a very full investigation of what happened and take whatever steps that are necessary to ensure that future incidents of that kind can be avoided.”