Dear Editor,

Before the coronavirus pandemic we had a two-year window for construction and completion of the four major projects in Grand Bahama that would have given us jobs, jobs and jobs, and the revival and establishment of a dynamic economy.

Since COVID-19, the landscape has changed. The cruise lines and their operations, though signed up, have been devastated economically by the pandemic as has, I submit, the government. The government, to keep the country alive, will have to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to feed and nurture our people, and this will likely go on for at least six to 12 months. The danger is that at the end of the period, we will look up and we may have salvaged what we had before, but we will not have created any new jobs or opportunities for our burgeoning population, or the means to service our - by then, potentially unserviceable - debt. This will start to become an increased burden on the country, thus reducing any true economic growth for The Bahamas.

Freeport is still the answer

I hate to say this, especially to my Nassau brethren, but the country has no viable future without Grand Bahama. We remain the one place in which significant growth can take place, certainly for the next ten years.

Freeport, I submit, is still the only place in The Bahamas that can create the jobs and increased income the country will need to finance the debt burden to give Bahamians hope going forward.

1. The government is rumoured to be signing a contract for the construction of a new hospital, an important part of the four-project plan.

2. We still have the hotel deal, the two cruise ports and the new airport, but those are all “kinetic” deals even though (except for the airport) all are signed and sealed.

Ever since Hurricane Dorian, no one is coming to Grand Bahama without a fully functional Grand Bahama International Airport. Freeport and its 40,000 Bahamian population will have no future without the airport. It is clear that substantial investment is necessary in infrastructure, which shall provide not only the needed jobs but also serve to create consumption that leads to the growth of financial resources to the Bahamian people throughout The Bahamas.

Grand Bahama International Airport a priority

Without the airport started and in place, Freeport is going to be crossed off the map of any present investor and/or potential Investor. The Bahamas cannot afford to lose the income of Grand Bahama and the sustainable economic diversification that the city can provide in the shortest possible period.

The cruise lines are themselves borrowing billions of dollars to stay alive, and will be economically challenged for years after this pandemic is over. I must exhort the government, therefore, to allocate a minimum of $70m out of these hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent to feed, clothe and give healthcare to our people, which is admittedly essential to their well-being and care. This allocation will enable the reconstruction of Grand Bahama International Airport so that, after the pandemic - and even now - we will be creating jobs and opportunities for growth.

Starting the airport will save Freeport, and will provide convincing impetus to the cruise lines, the Grand Bahama Shipyard, Pharmachem and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) that Grand Bahama is still the place to be now and in the future.

I therefore exhort government to immediately earmark construction funds for the Grand Bahama International Airport, including the Georgetown and North Eleuthera airports, if possible, and to begin talks with all interested parties to confirm what I have said here. Let’s get this ball rolling.

Terence Gape

Freeport resident

and senior partner

Dupuch & Turnquest