By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader yesterday urged the Government to disclose all its commercial agreements with The Pointe and other major investment projects, defying it to prove him wrong over the absence of transparency.

Branville McCartney told Tribune Business he had “no doubt”that the agreements signed by the Christie administration were “more favourable” to China Construction America (CCA) and other foreign developers than the Bahamian people.

“It is important for all contractual dealings with developments going on in the country to be published,” he said.

“The Bahamian people ought to know what the Government is getting the country into, and what the terms and concessions are. But they won’t let us.”

In The Pointe’s case, disclosure of its Heads of Agreement and other contractual arrangements would help put an end to the controversy over its 500 work permits and whether its Chinese labour component is 60 per cent, or 30 per cent, of the total construction workforce.

Mr McCartney added: “I have no doubt these terms are more favourable to the foreign investors and the Chinese than the Bahamas and the Bahamian people.

“It has been going on for 40-plus years. We give everything away, and the Bahamas and Bahamians are left holding the bag. We’ve seen investors pack up and leave, owing the country millions and millions of dollars, over and repeatedly, with Bahamians left holding the bag.”

Mr McCartney pointed as an example to the still-closed Royal Oasis, where its former owner, Driftwood (Freeport), exited the Bahamas and pocketed the insurance proceeds from the Hurricane Frances claim in 2004.

It left owing around $22-$23 million in liabilities, including pension payments, National Insurance Board (NIB) contributions and staff loan payments which had been deducted from salaries but never passed on to their intended destination.

The second Christie administration has largely followed the first in terms of ‘Heads of Agreement’ transparency, having tabled few - if any - such contracts, along with underlying agreements and side letters, in the House of Assembly.

It still appears to be following the ‘tried and tested’ development model of relying heavily on foreign direct investment (FDI) led tourism projects, and trading off Bahamian land and tax concessions in return for jobs and economic growth.

Studies have subsequently suggested, though, that less than 25 per cent of FDI’s impact is felt by the Bahamian economy and people.

Mr McCartney, meanwhile, said the optimism expressed by Mr Christie in his mid-year Budget statement was not a reality being felt by the majority of Bahamians.

“The Prime Minister tried to give some hope, but if we read it in detail the reality is it still looks dismal and bleak in terms of our economic outlook,” the DNA leader told Tribune Business.

“When the Prime Minister spoke about the economy, he said something that we knew last year, when he was saying otherwise. The reality is setting in that the economy has not grown in any significant way.”

Mr McCartney added that the Government’s seeming new-found reliance on public-private partnerships (PPPs) to finance, and execute, infrastructure improvements and upgrades to government buildings showed it lacked the necessary resources to perform its responsibilities.

“That’s the responsibility of government, providing infrastructure for the Government,” he said. “By entering into PPPs the Government is saying they, the country, do not have sufficient funds to provide the necessary infrastructure.

“It shows the economy has not grown in order for the Government to provide the infrastructure resources.”