By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Cat Islanders were yesterday said to be seeking the Government’s help in developing a cruise port and other facilities deemed essential to reviving an economy “in dire straits”.

Ezra Russell, who organised a January 14, 2014, Town Hall meeting for residents to give vent to their concerns and frustrations, and suggest potential solutions, said Cat Island continued to receive ‘crumbs’ from Nassau and the central government.

Warning that time was of the essence, Mr Russell said the island required sustained attention and assistance to effect an economic turnaround within the next six months.

Detailing the potential solutions, he told this newspaper that just a $400,000-$500,000 investment was required to convert Cat Island’s regatta site into a cruise port that could rival nearby Half Moon Cay.

Pointing out that the economic benefits and spin-offs would be greater if cruise ships called on mainland Cat Island, Mr Russell said locals also wanted to develop an indoor sports stadium that could host tournaments for - and be used to attract - basketball teams from elsewhere in the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

And Cat Islanders also wanted their own Tourism Information Centre to specifically promote the island and its attractions, including heritage sites, blue holes and bone and deep sea fishing, to the world.

Disclosing that Cat Island’s tourism economy was functioning at “3 per cent” of total capacity, Mr Russell confirmed: “I organised a Town Meeting in Cat Island to discuss the way forward for Cat Island; how we can help ourselves by asking the Government to assist us in developing the regatta site into a cruise ship port, and to ask the Minster of Youth, Sports and Culture to develop an indoor stadium for basketball and attract teams from around the Caribbean and the Bahamas.”

He told Tribune Business that Cat Island would be able to “duplicate” the facilities on Half Moon Cay, the cruise ship private island 15-20 minutes away near Little San Salvador.

Having a port on Cat Island itself would enable the economic benefits to be felt immediately by young Bahamian entrepreneurs, he added, while also introducing the island’s beauty to passengers.

The long-term hope, Mr Russell said, was to entice the cruise passengers back as either stopover visitors or investors who purchased land and homes, and even opened businesses.

Mr Russell said he had estimated that a Cat Island cruise port could generate $2.1 million in departure taxes alone for the Government, but warned that it was becoming increasingly urgent to revive the island’s economy.

“Cat Island needs a vehicle to move the economy in the next three to five months,” he told Tribune Business. “We are in dire straits.

“Everyone is hoping the Government has some plan for us in the next six months. We can’t go beyond that point. We have to keep Cat Island’s economy rolling, and right now nothing’s happening for us.”

In common with all other islands in the southern Bahamas, Mr Russell said Cat Islanders were “not feeling the effects from government”. Nassau, he added, was instead focusing its efforts on the bigger and more populated islands, plus the likes of Andros, Bimini, Exuma and Eleuthera.

“The little islands, we are only getting the fragments from what is left from the Budget,” Mr Russell told Tribune Business.

“If we can get our Tourism Information Centre, cruise ship port, sports facility, that will drive the Cat Island economy. That’s all we need and all we’re begging for in the last two years of this government’s term in office.

“We are pleading with them to assist us. What do we have to hold on to? Nothing. There is nothing to hold on to at all. Government has to move faster and more quickly on our behalf.”

Mr Russell emphasised that infrastructure upgrades, such as the promised New Bight airport rejuvenation, were crucial to Cat Island’s economic future.

“Every time we have potential investors, and we speak to them, the first thing they ask is when will we upgrade the airport or put in infrastructure to support them coming in,” he added.

Mr Russell is not isolated in his concerns. Another Cat Islander, in a letter sent to Tribune Business, said: “As a long time resident of Cat Island, I have seen the integrity of our home crumble with great intensity through the recent years.

“This lack of attention affects every age bracket. Whether it be the elderly, by having no adequate medical facilities or proper late life care, or the youth, by creating no future except to leave. Or us in the middle of life doing the best we can, only to see making a living wage harder and harder to come by.

“Don’t get me wrong; we are some of the most proud and self-sustaining residents of the Commonwealth. We gain prosperity not through monetary gains but our living experiences. With that being said, I speak for our Cat Island population and want to make it clear we’ve been shunned, muted and pushed aside for far too long.”