By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Three shortlisted bidders are offering to invest between $50m to $150m in redeveloping Grand Bahama International Airport (GBIA), the deputy prime minister said yesterday, with the latter’s new Board charged with selecting the winner.

Chester Cooper, who has ministerial responsibility for tourism, aviation and investments, told reporters ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting that the new seven-member Freeport Airport Development Company Board - just unveiled at the weekend - will be responsible for vetting the finalist trio and choosing the winning bidder.

“There has to be some determination as to specifically what we would like to see here. We have some designs. This Board will apply due analysis and this process will be refined in the short-term,” Mr Cooper said. “Suffice to say, at the end of the day we will have a facility that is resilient, that is adequate for the needs of Grand Bahama, and that will inspire the type of confidence with the Americans so that we can get pre-clearance back to Grand Bahama.”

The few details provided by Mr Cooper suggest that the Government has received a wide variety of proposals for redeveloping Grand Bahama’s main aviation gateway via a public-private partnership (PPP), which will see a private developer take over the facility’s redevelopment and operations backed by private capital.

The creation of Freeport Airport Development Company suggests the Government is going for the same model as at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) with Nassau Development Company (NAD), where the airport was leased to the latter under a 30-year concession agreement that was subsequently extended. Vantage, NAD’s operator, was then responsible for raising the capital to redevelop LPIA and took over its operations.

The Davis administration will have to move quickly to select a winning bidder and create certainty around Grand Bahama International Airport’s future and redevelopment. Much is riding on this from an economic perspective, not least the Grand Lucayan’s sale and redevelopment, as Electra America Hospitality Group will want to know whether reconstruction will be sufficiently advanced in time for when the resort re-opens.

Terah Rahming, an accountant, has been appointed as Freeport Airport Development Company’s chairman. Other Board members include Peter Rutherford, the Airport Authority’s managing director; Cassietta McIntosh, an attorney; Elbert Hepburn; Forrester Carroll; Julian Sawyer; Harold Williams; and a representative from the Tourism Development Company.

Mr Cooper, meanwhile, yesterday confirmed Club Med in San Salvador will be re-opening this October. “We have a working group along with the developers to ensure that it happens. They have received substantially all of their approvals,” he added.

“We’re making infrastructural adjustments in terms of the clinic, and the power and the water and the airport. They are going to have significant airlift including Bahamasair, American Airlines, Air Canada, and an airline direct from Paris to San Salvador. So these are exciting times for San Salvador. They’ve already started to recruit employees and we expect the economic benefit to be significant.”

Mr Cooper added that the Government will soon make an announcement on its downtown Nassau business incubator, saying he is “enthused” about the possibilities. He added: “We are looking at properties to occupy. The Tourism Development Corporation is working on this steadily, and we anticipate over the course of the next few weeks we will have something significant to say.

“Let me just say that the idea of the Incubation Centre is to support small business with authentically Bahamian products. And we believe this is going to be exciting for Bahamians, good for the product and certainly good for tourists coming to our shores to experience much more of what we have to offer.”

The British Colonial reopening is also still expected as its owners, China Construction America (CCA), are expecting to receive the necessary approvals in “short order”. Mr Cooper said: “Government is committed to the re-opening of the British Colonial and we expect that this will cause us to have more communication with the public in due course.”