By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Port Lucaya Marketplace's owner is accusing the government and his insurer of pressuring him to re-open the complex prematurely given its numerous unresolved "safety" issues.

Peter Hunt told Tribune Business he was being "bashed on the head" for trying to do "everything correctly" in Hurricane Dorian's aftermath to ensure the well-being of tenants, their employees and visitors given the "extensive damage" to the retail destination.

In an exclusive interview with this newspaper he hit back at K Peter Turnquest for accusing him of playing "hardball" with the marketplace's insurers, branding the deputy prime minister's remarks as "staggering" and "unprofessional".

Mr Turnquest declined to respond to Mr Hunt when contacted by this newspaper yesterday evening, but the latter also accused the Marketplace's Bahamas-based insurer - who he declined to name - of pressuring him to re-open as a means to reduce the value of its Dorian-related claim payout.

The UK-based principal of PNH Properties Group reiterated that the marketplace will not re-open until a full structural survey is conducted to determine if all its buildings are sound following Dorian's battering of Grand Bahama.

Mr Hunt said that process, and the subsequent engineer's report, will likely take two weeks to complete. It would have been more advanced, the investor continued, had the government not "booted" his insurance loss adjusters off Grand Bahama amid a controversy over whether they possessed the necessary work permits.

He also disclosed to Tribune Business that repair works will not begin until the marketplace's insurance claim is settled, which suggests it will take weeks - if not months - to re-open a destination that forms a vital component of Freeport's tourism product as well as a central venue for Bahamian small businesses and entrepreneurs to showcase their wares.

That is unlikely to sit well with Port Lucaya's retail and restaurant owners, along with their employees, straw artisans and entrepreneurs who all rely on the marketplace for their livelihoods. They have already complained about being denied access to their stores, and this week suggested there were "underlying" issues as to why the property had not opened four weeks after Dorian's passing.

One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The Marketplace is a significant tourist draw and persons depend on them to do repairs quickly to get their lives in order and for tourists to come back."

However, Mr Hunt argued to Tribune Business that the safety of all Marketplace users - business owners, employees and local and foreign visitors - was paramount when it came to re-opening the destination.

"We made it quite clear there was damage, there was extensive building damage within the market square at Port Lucaya," he said of conversations with the Marketplace's insurers. "We said we wanted to undertake a full structural survey to make sure buildings were sound for employees, tenants and shoppers to come in.

"Until such time as we did a full structural survey we did not want anyone walking around Port Lucaya." Mr Hunt said that just after he and his business partners flew into Grand Bahama to assess the damage, and right when his insurance company met the loss adjusters, the latter were "booted off the island" for not possessing the necessary work permits.

It is unclear why this became such a problem since the Insurance Commission issued guidelines on how foreign loss adjusters could work in The Bahamas immediately following Dorian's passage, but Mr Hunt said he had to "spend quite a bit of time" resolving the matter.

"If the Government hadn't booted them off we would be two weeks ahead of where we are today," he argued. "We've been stalled for two weeks."

Amid the loss adjusters' absence, Mr Hunt said a Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) structural engineer did "a walk through" of the Port Lucaya Marketplace at his request. "He wrote a preliminary report to us and the GBPA deeming Port Lucaya unsafe for public access until a full structural survey takes place," he added.

"He called for debris to be cleaned up to make it easier for surveyors to get access to Port Lucaya. We have undertaken a full detailed clean-up, and the loss adjusters are back on island today [Monday]. They met with one of the structural engineers this afternoon who reiterated that Port Lucaya is unsafe for public access until a full survey has been undertaken.

"On the face of it it might look like there's much damage. There is substantial damage. We need to be 100 percent certain that Port Lucaya is safe for public access before we open up. This takes time. Port Lucaya is a very large shopping centre, and for people to do a full structural survey takes a couple of weeks; it does not happen overnight," Mr Hunt continued.

"There's a lot of moving parts. We don't want anything to happen to anybody, such as something coming off the roof and killing someone because of the impatience to open up. We're doing everything by the book and are not taking chances with anybody's lives."

Mr Hunt said the survey itself will now take place over the next week, and last between seven to 10 days. He added that the Port Lucaya Marketplace had "not done too badly" given extent of Dorian's power and devastation, and said: "There is substantial damage; there's no doubt about it."

However, several Grand Bahama sources spoken to Tribune Business have questioned the extent of Dorian-related damage at the Port Lucaya Marketplace, and whether it is as bad as Mr Hunt suggests.

He, though, revealed to Tribune Business: "We are getting pressure from the insurance company and the Government to open up Port Lucaya. We think they're wrong to do it. We're being advised by professional people who know how to do it.

"We've had a Category Five hurricane blast through the place; the strongest ever. They're [the insurance company] asking us to open to keep the claim down. They're bashing us on the head, this insurance company; they're out of order. They're continually asking us to open but we've got to do it in the right way.

"If it's safe to open, we will open. They should give us time to do the necessary work. This insurance company should be saying to us: There is a claim here but let us do everything in the correct way. Let's make sure everything is repaired, and done correctly, because if something did happen I'm going back to the insurer saying I've got another claim because someone's been killed or badly injured."

Mr Hunt added that he was also coming under heavy pressure from the Government, which he described as "bang out of order as well". Focusing on Mr Turnquest's comments that he was "playing hardball" with his insurers, Mr Hunt added: "He didn't pick up the phone and call me.

"For a man in his position he should not have made that comment. It was a very unprofessional comment to make..... I've done everything correctly and am being bullied by the Government, insurance company and tenants. I could not believe it when the deputy prime minister made those comments. Staggering."

Mr Hunt said two structural engineers will survey the Port Lucaya Marketplace, and in two weeks will produce a report saying "what buildings are unsound, unsafe and need work, and what buildings can be opened to the public".

The loss adjusters will then work with the Marketplace's insurer to sort out the claim value, bur Mr Hunt made clear no repair work will take place until that is settled. "Work will not take place until the insurance claim is settled," he told Tribune Business. "We need money to get this work done. We are working very hard to get Port Lucaya open but it does take time."