By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Restrictions that prevent US federal money from being spent on sand imports represent a major obstacle to the Prime Minister’s dreams of creating a Bahamian sand export market.

James Curling, head of Tycoon Management, a major player in the Bahamian sand supply industry, told Tribune Business that such restrictions meant Mr Christie’s sand export proposals were “not going to go anywhere”.

In a brief interview with this newspaper, Mr Curling, who has been in the sand export business himself, said: “He [the Prime Minister] needs to come to people in the business so we can tell him what it is

“There’s no market for sand as far as competing with the tourism sector in the US. The US would be the only tourism competitor close to us, and they’re not allowed.”

Mr Curling further explained: “Miami is not allowed to buy from outside the US because of federal money. They’re not allowed to buy sand from outside the US to put on their beaches as they can’t spend federal money on it.”

He told Tribune Business that the Bahamas was also unable to compete with the Great Lakes area “and what they’re doing over there”.

And, suggesting that other Bahamas-based aggregate and sand suppliers would have similar difficulties in developing an export market, Mr Curling said: “Ocean Cay, they couldn’t find no buyer market.”

The Prime Minister last week called for the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) to study the potential for a “major” sand export market, during a speech to mark the groundbreaking for its new $2.2 million headquarters.

Mr Christie said any sand export industry needed to be focused on countries that were not tourism industry competitors.

“I was told, and I want BAIC to look at this, that whenever we made policy decisions about sand and the export of sand, that it was done on the premise that the sand regenerates in the Bahamas and we have enough to supply unlimited,” the Prime Minister said.

“We always thought it didn’t make policy sense to export sand to beautify the beaches in Florida. Countries further north that are not competitors are in need of sand for major industrial purposes.

“If we can create an export market for sand without there being a negative impact on the Bahamas, then there is a major potential export market. Your remit (chairman Arnold Forbes) under the Act enables you to put that to study, and make a determination on whether or not that can be a feasible exercise for you.”