By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

WITH some of the “major hotels” in the country “grossly negligent in paying their bills” – one owing as much as $10 million, BEC Chairman Leslie Miller vowed yesterday the corporation will “deal with” those hotels this summer and “we will turn them off.”

He was speaking at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s headquarters, yesterday, where he also revealed Jose Cartellone Construcciones – the company contracted for the New Providence road works – owes $3 million to BEC.

It was at the beginning of this month that Mr Miller had revealed the delinquent status of some hotels – although not calling any by name.

“One hotel in particular owes BEC almost $10 million,” he had said. “In some of our Family Islands, they owe millions of dollars.”

The chairman told the press, yesterday, BEC will go after “the big fellows out west” who can pay their bills.

“Because they can afford to pay,” he said. “Because you know who pays their bill? When you go to any hotel in this country, you will see on your bill, your fuel fee. In other words, the guests are paying most of that bill and the hotel is pocketing the damn money... They are pocketing the money from the guest and still ain’t paying us. So we will deal with them over the summer. We will turn them off.

“Now when we threaten to turn them off, you know what they say? ‘We’re going to send 100 people home and see what the end result is.’ Now why don’t you try to send the 100 people home and see what the end result is, because you ain’t doing us no favour.

“You in this country to make money. We got to get this concept out of our head that the man come here to do us a favour – no one come here to do us a favour. They come here to run a profitable business. If they couldn’t make money in the Bahamas, they would go elsewhere.

“If they couldn’t get the incentives that the government of the Bahamas is offered them and given to them over the years, billions upon billions of your money. They ain’t doing you no favour.”

He continued:”Of course they’re making a contribution but if they go anywhere, they got to hire people, they got to pay their utilities bill. Ain’t nobody doing you no favour. And if they don’t pay their bills we’re going to shut them off.”

Although not naming any of those hotels, the Tall Pines MP named a few other companies who owe BEC.

“Jose Cartellones owes over $3 million. Before he leaves, we want our money,” he said. “A lot of the roads that they fixed is going to cost us problems in the future because they put those little ramps and thing in the middle of the road and we don’t have no access now to a lot of our wires, so even down the road we’re going to be spending an excess amount of money because some of the things they did was wrong.

“When Gladstone Farms closed down a few years ago, they left owing us millions of dollars. We ain’t collect a penny. Hotels on Paradise Island, when they close down – Holiday Inn when they closed down, years ago,  left BEC high and dry for over $3 million.”