By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest stressed that an international airport is critical for Grand Bahama and expressed disappointment over the wait for the project.

He said the Davis administration is unfocused on urgent issues, and its performance thus far is lacklustre.

“The airport is another disappointment,” Mr Turnquest said. “The new government said they have or had a partner. We understand they are having some challenges now with that agreement, which is very unfortunate.”

“But given the lack of transparency with respect to the PPP in the first place, we are not surprised that there are hitches that have not been disclosed and that are now coming to roost and maybe delaying this project.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Tourism, Investment, and Aviation Minister Chester Cooper recently announced that the airport’s development in Grand Bahama is on target for 2025.

The government entered an agreement with the Manchester Airport Group [MAG], Aerodrome Limited, a Bahamian company, and BHM Construction International, a London-based company, to develop the Grand Bahama International Airport in February 2023.

The Minnis administration had purchased the airport, hoping to find a partner to redevelop it.

“We need the airlift to fill these hotels,” Mr Turnquest said. “So it is critical we find a partner that will have the right strategic plan to make it profitable and provide us with a product that will be suitable to attract international traffic.”

The contentious relationship between the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the government is unproductive, Mr Turnquest added.

He believes more would be accomplished by sitting at the table as partners to chart a way forward for Grand Bahama.

“One of the problems that Grand Bahama has had is that we had constant push and pull between the Grand Bahama Port Authority and central government, everybody blaming the other for the lack of focus on investment and lack of focus on infrastructure,” said the former MP for East Grand Bahama.

Mr Turnquest said the government has not done much to improve West and East Grand Bahama, where they have full control.

“If you were to look at the city of Freeport compared to the outskirts, it is night and day, and there is no reason for it. And when I hear these statements of what the Port Authority is not doing, the question that comes to my mind is, what is the government doing?”

Mr Turnquest said the $1.5 billion in investments in Grand Bahama that the Davis administration is touting are all projects that started under the previous Minnis administration.

“There is nothing new that has come on the table thus far,” he said. “We keep hoping and waiting for something new to be presented. But the fact of the matter is you see all of these things that were talked about before. Even the lunch programme implemented at the Holmes Rock Primary was already in transit. We spoke about these things and the government is trying to take credit for it.”