By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR Minister Dion Foulkes said yesterday that some 8,000 jobs have either been created recently or will come on stream soon.

He told the Senate that the 52-week jobs programme, which has helped train and employ 1,000 participants, has been renewed.

His ministry’s ‘Labour on the Blocks’ programme has delivered over 1,500 new jobs, he said.

“We incentivised and worked with the private sector and business community to encourage them to retain their existing employee numbers and where possible create new job opportunities,” he said.

Mr Foulkes added that a new expansion at Baha Mar has created 500 construction jobs and 700 permanent jobs while Nassau Cruise Ports has created 500 construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs will be created upon completion.

He said the newly expanded and renovated Sandals hotel has employed hundreds of Bahamians in its construction stage and will employ 1,000 Bahamians on a permanent basis.

He added that the Aqualina condo development in Cable Beach will provide 300 construction jobs while The Point resort, which will be opening in two weeks, will engage 400 permanent employees and will be 98 percent Bahamian.

Other jobs include 175 Bahamian workers at the Goldwynn development in Cable Beach and the Sterling Global Group development on Paradise Island which will employ 500 Bahamians.

“Some 8,000 jobs were created recently or will come on stream shortly,” he said.

During his contribution yesterday, Mr Foulkes also took a swipe at the Progressive Liberal Party, questioning if it will raise taxes and eliminate benefits for Bahamians should it win the next general election.

He said in the Senate, “On June 2, 2021, during the budget debate in the lower house, Chester Cooper, the deputy leader of the PLP said: ‘a new administration will have to look under every rock and make some hard decisions.’ If the PLP wins the next election, which we know will not happen, are they planning on increasing taxes and eliminating benefits Bahamians now enjoy?

“What does Chester Cooper mean by every rock? Are they planning to increase VAT again? Are they planning to increase the gas tax? Are they planning to increase NIB contributions? Are they planning on reducing social services benefits?

“Make sure he and the PLP do not have the opportunity to look under every rock….vote FNM.”

There are over one hundred workers who will be regularised in the civil service. According to Senator Foulkes, these workers were in the system for quite some time with no benefits because of their employment status.

“The Department of Local Government continues its efforts in processing the confirmation of 138 persons who were regularised from the Local Government District Councils throughout the Family Islands,” he said.

“These employees have served at least ten years or more without any benefits and will now be able to look forward to retirement benefits and other remunerations for their services.”

Senator Foulkes also said the plan for personalised licence plates is back in motion. “It is also noteworthy that we will be pursuing additional revenue streams for the Road Traffic Department this fiscal year,” he said. “These initiatives will be inclusive of those that were previously hampered by the effects of COVID-19; namely, the specialty/organisational plates, novelty tourism plates and the personalised vanity licence plates.

“We will achieve this by upgrading and enhancing the licence plate production facility at the Bahamas Department of Corrections with a capital injection of approximately $1m.

“The new colour for the self-drive plates will be introduced during this fiscal period. We anticipate that the plates will be available in New Providence by the end of August. The colour of the plates will be a white backdrop with green prefixes and lettering; eliminating the confusion that presently exists with deciphering the difference between taxis and self-drive (rental) vehicles.”