• Warns work permits ‘abused rampantly’

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president yesterday demanded that the Government stop giving developers “a blank cheque” to bring in foreign contractors and workers amid the latest British Colonial/Pointe controversy.

Leonard Sands told Tribune Business that successive administrations, whether PLP or FNM, need to stand up for Bahamian contractors and the sector’s local workforce given that the industry has the “scope and capacity” to meet most - if not all - construction demands in this nation.

Arguing that administrations of both political persuasions have yet to show they believe in the skills and competencies of Bahamian construction professionals, he also urged the Government to involve the BCA and other industry groups when developers were seeking work permits and other approvals to bring in foreign firms and personnel as they were best-placed to advise whether these needs could be met by locals instead.

Pointing to a separate January 2023 incident, when a Bahamian contractor thought he had secured a contract to perform dry wall finishing and construct a few rooms at a New Providence hotel, only for the work to ultimately be performed by 25 Spanish-speaking workers brought in to handle “other tasks”, Mr Sands told this newspaper that the work permit system is being “rampantly abused”.

Asserting that the departments of labour and Immigration lack the manpower, resources and knowledge that is required, he renewed calls for the Government to work with the BCA and other industry bodies “to properly police this several billion dollars a year sector” and ensure that Bahamians and the wider economy maximise its benefits.

Mr Sands spoke out after Keith Bell, minister of labour and Immigration, in a prepared statement where he took no questions confirmed that the Department of Immigration had uncovered “irregularities” concerning the status of workers at the British Colonial’s construction site adjacent to The Pointe in downtown Nassau.

“The Department of Immigration, as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure compliance with our Immigration laws, discovered a number of irregularities with the status of workers at a British Colonial construction site. Whilst the irregularities required immediate action, it was determined, and given all of the circumstances, taking the persons to the detention centre was unnecessary,” Mr Bell said.

It is important to note that the employer, as with almost every other major hotel redevelopment, has a Heads of Agreement with the Government of The Bahamas to permit the temporary importation of foreign construction workers. Secondly, the irregularities found at the site were expeditiously cured by the employer.

“And, thirdly, the completion of the renovation works for the British Colonial property will address and add critically needed hotel rooms on New Providence and create additional employment and opportunities for Bahamians.” Mr Bell did not specify the irregularities involved, or the number of workers in question, although the former almost certainly involved persons without the necessary work permits or other relevant Immigration status.

The unnamed employer is almost certainly China Construction America (CCA), developer of The Pointe and the British Colonial’s developer. The latter property is in the middle of a $50m renovation ahead of its late 2023 re-opening ahead of the Christmas season.

“I want to go on record,” Mr Sands told Tribune Business in response. “One of the questions the BCA would have is this. When would the Government of The Bahamas, whether it’s this administration or future administrations, foresee a time in our future when they would determine The Bahamas has workers that are qualified to carry out construction work?

“The Bahamas has been engaged in the construction practice since the 1680s, when it first became a democracy. Apparently, it has become clear that no administration believes we have the skills or capacity to construct buildings which, I must be very honest with you, are very linear in nature and not more complicated than what we have constructed, and are not beyond the capacity and scope of any of the large contractors in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

“Again, at the Heads of Agreement level, the only persons who believe we should not be there, and do not have a seat at the table in our country, is the Government that represents us. Until such time as that changes, nothing will in my view take away the right of the developer to ask for foreign labour. The [Government] response should be: Show me where the Bahamians are unable to perform.”

The issue of how many Bahamian contractors and construction workers were employed at The Pointe, a $200m development now featuring the Margaritaville resort, condo hotel, parking lot, retail, office and other amenities, was a long-running controversy amid work that largely took place under the Minnis administration following the Heads of Agreement struck with its Christie predecessor.

There were frequent complaints that Bahamians were largely being excluded from work they could perform by a Chinese-dominated workforce that Beijing insists accompanies its capital investments wherever they are located. Numerous calls were made for the Department of Labour to investigate whether CCA was breaching the project Heads of Agreement, and denying contractors and their employees much-needed income.

Mr Bell alluded to the Heads of Agreement terms in his statement yesterday. “Subsequent to the closure of the [British Colonial] hotel, the Government began discussions with the owners of the hotel with the objective of ensuring that the hotel that is the Hilton would be open in the shortest possible timeframe. And as you all aware, we have a Heads of Agreement,” he added.

“The Government was advised the hotel required extensive renovation works that, as with other large projects, necessitated the importation of temporary foreign workers. Given the construction processes, varying workers are required for elements of the project. As specialised workers complete their tasks they leave the country and new specialists re-entered in January of this year.”

However, no explanation was presented for why these “specialists” entered The Bahamas and began working despite seemingly being in breach of Bahamian labour laws. Mr Sands said he and the BCA have “implored” Mr Bell to allow the Bahamian construction industry to aid the Government when applications are made for work permits and to bring in foreign contractors, but nothing had changed to-date.

“We have reached out on occasion to the minister, have had a conversation with the minister, implored the minister to allow is to help him and his department to do the job they’re trying to do by inviting us into the process when hotel groups and developers make applications for permits and ask us if we have persons able to fill these skilled positions,” he added. “In all instances I can guarantee we will find contractors or persons to fill the skills you are looking for.

“I have been advised of an experience with a hotel property in Nassau in January, again, where local contractors submitted a bid to perform remedial work: Dry wall finishing and the construction of some additional rooms. The contract was almost signed, and they were almost engaged, but the owners decided to make an application for 25 Spanish-speaking to do ‘technical work’ in other parts of the hotel.

“It was later discovered by the contractor that those persons were brought in and completed the work that the Bahamian bid on despite it being nothing special at all.” Declining to name the resort involved, Mr Sands cited this episode as further evidence that “the system is being abused rampantly because the Department of Immigration does not have the manpower, the capacity and the knowledge to police the sector.

“It is too wide,” he added. “They need the assistance of the BCA and other industry groups to police this several billion dollars a year industry. Until such time as they seek our help, Bahamian contractors will continue to lose opportunities to legitimate permit holders approved by the departments of labour and Immigration.

“I don’t have any issue with that. We have issues with the fact we’re not able to properly police the sector so abuse occurs every day, and that has to be addressed. The way to address it has to be from the Heads of Agreement. The Heads of Agreement cannot give a blank cheque to bring in whoever and how many you want. That has to be stopped.”