By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

ALBANY’S Managing Partner Christopher Anand revealed yesterday that Joe Lewis and his Tavistock Group, the principal developers of the $1.4 billion project, offered the former Progressive Liberal Party government $700m to “fix the issues” at the former Bahamas Electricity Corporation and the city landfill.

However, Mr Anand said, for “some reason” the offer was never accepted.

During a tour of the luxury resort community, with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and members of his Cabinet, Mr Anand in an impassioned speech railed against what he described as “two and a half years of banging our heads against the wall.”

He urged the Minnis administration to “work with them” to solve the problems plaguing the electricity company as well as the consistent burning at the New Providence Landfill.

In response, Dr Minis told reporters: “We look for the best deal possible that is in the best interest of the Bahamian people.”

During his speech, Mr Anand said to the government delegation: “The electricity problem is ridiculous, let me tell you the havoc it causes is unbelievable. We may have generators but let me tell you the people back there, they do not have it, so their milk goes bad, their kids go bananas, like it sucks. What can we do about it guys?

“Hey Joe (Lewis), how do you feel about putting $700 million up to rebuild the power infrastructure in the Bahamas? Oh, we can get rid of the smoke stacks, we can stop putting oil into the sea and we can actually put more money in everyone’s pocket and we can invest in the country. What a great idea. So why don’t you spend two and half years, working with the Bahamian government and BEC to restructure their debt put an offer on the table and let us know how it goes. Our guy Jim, spent two and a half years and 10 minutes later, someone else has it.... I am making a point we have spent many, many years, this man with a commitment to spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in this country and honestly, it feels like we have been jerked around.

“Now you don’t have to take our $700 million if there is someone else who wants to give you $700 million to make everything better, take it, for God’s sake take it, but what are you doing? I mean it is unbelievable.”

Mr Anand said a part of the $700 million offered would also have gone to fix the issues at the landfill. He urged the government to work with them, or anyone, to find a resolution as soon as possible.

“.... And the dump, we can’t even talk about that, in fact we are all still coughing up the crap out of our lungs to even form a sentence on that subject. Let’s talk about the dump, guess what, as part of our $700 million, we were going to fix the dump. The point is this, we have been a willing counterpart to invest a lot of money to help fix the problems, we are part of the solution, not part of the problem,” Mr Anand said.

“We have spent two and half years, banging our heads against the wall and Joe is a little fed up because not everyone has $700 million kicking around waiting for something to do. The Ministry of Finance would know that. You have a willing counterpart willing to solve problems, but let’s get on with it, because we will make this country great together and it is time that you understand we are here and we are ready to help but we need to feel love back because this whole thing felt like something wasn’t right.”

Dr Minnis told reporters after the tour the BPL issues and the landfill are at the top of the government’s lists of priorities.

“I live in the west,” the prime minister said. “That is a plea made to me and my constituency and a plea made by every Bahamian in the Bahamas. They+ have been screaming about the dump and the dump fires, especially those who live in the close vicinity.

“It causes health problems and health issues in the immediate as well as long term, you and I may not necessarily be around to see what long term effects may occur. Therefore as government it is our job to improve the quality of life, not only to Bahamians but also to our visitors and guests and therefore when we came into power, we said that we would improve the quality of life for Bahamians, we know that the electricity is compromising the quality of life, we know that the dump site is compromising the quality of life in the Bahamas and therefore those must be priority issues.”

American company PowerSecure was contracted to take over management at the government-owned utility provider in early 2016, which was renamed Bahamas Power and Light.

The new management deal was promoted by the Christie administration as being the answer to sub-par electricity service and high electricity bills.

However, the country has still been plagued with repeated power outages, especially in the summer months.

The city dump has been plagued with recurring fires for a number of years. Renew Bahamas was engaged by the government in 2014 to manage the landfill and help address the matter, however the company suspended its services and eventually walked away in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.