By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Prime Minister’s pledge to implement construction sector regulation by early September will “break open” the industry’s path to a $2bn annual economic impact, it was argued yesterday.

Leonard Sands, the Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president, told Tribune Business he is confident the profession will soon be able to “go toe-to-toe” with overseas rivals for work on major foreign direct investment (FDI) projects now it appears the industry’s near-decade long wait for self-regulation is over.

Confirming that himself and other BCA executives met Philip Davis KC last Friday to discuss forming the long-awaited Construction Contractors Board to regulate the industry, he added that its appointment will give Bahamian homeowners increased protection against shoddy workmanship, unqualified contractors and being over-charged on building projects.

The Board’s role is to oversee the licensing and registration of Bahamian contractors and construction trades persons according to their abilities and the scale of projects and work they are able to perform. It would also enforce the Construction Contractors Act, which was passed into law almost a decade ago in 2016, imposing penalties and sanctions on those found guilty of misconduct and defective work.

However, the Act itself has never been enforced due to the failure to appoint the Board. This has left construction as the last major Bahamian profession without self-regulatory powers, but Mr Sands said the Prime Minister - who, as minister of works in the last Christie administration was responsible for bringing the Act to Parliament - is now focusing on fully enacting such legislation.

The BCA chief said he and other Association executives were informed by the Prime Minister that he wants to appoint the Board before month’s end or early September at latest. Mr Sands said the BCA submitted recommendations for those it wants appointed to the Board to the Government yesterday.

“We met last Friday,” he added of the meeting with Mr Davis. “It was a request on their behalf to meet with us to discuss the appointment of the Construction Contractors Board. He indicated that it’s his intention to have the Board appointed this month. He said the latest, if he does not get it done this month, will be the first week in September.

“He said it’s imminent, and that’s why they made the allocation of $50,000 for the Construction Contractors Board in this year’s Budget. We had a good meeting. He discussed some of the reasons why this has taken so long.”

Mr Sands said the Prime Minister told the BCA executives he had “never forgotten” about the need to appoint the Board, and end the nine-year wait to enforce industry self-regulation, but explained that the Government had to “deal with the most pressing matters first” and tackle priorities such as reviving the economy post-COVID-19, critical infrastructure works and getting Grand Bahama back on track.

“Now he’s got a good handle on that, he’s switching his attention to legislation he passed but did not complete,” Mr Sands added. “We’re quite excited about where we find ourselves. We are very pleased with the meeting with the Prime Minister; very, very pleased. It was very light, very jovial and he was very excited to make this thing happen.”

The BCA chief explained that the licensing and self-regulatory system ushered in by the Board’s approval should eventually result in increased business for Bahamian contractors as developers - both local and foreign - will know which companies and individuals can perform certain jobs competently based on the scale and type of work they are certified for.

“I would go on record as saying this is going to really break open the industry in a way we cannot even comprehend,” Mr Sands told Tribune Business. “We’ve said before that there are hundreds of millions, possibly billions of dollars, of investment that want to come to The Bahamas but because we don’t have licensed contractors it stays offshore.

“I think with licensed contractors becoming a reality, I think the construction industry in this country can surpass $2bn a year. I think that is not unrealistic - in excess of $2bn. We’re right now, I think, at $1.1bn to $1.2bn.” Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) data showed the combined value of total construction starts hit $212.105m for the 2023 full-year, with new construction permits at $915.566m.

Mr Sands reiterated that construction industry output, which the BNSI said expanded by 19 percent or $146m in 2024 to $768m, will increase further because the new contractor licensing regime will give investors confidence that Bahamian firms can perform the work. As a result, local contractors will be placed on a competitive ‘level playing field’ with foreign rivals in battling for FDI project work.

“Now we’re going to go toe-to-toe with everyone,” the BCA president said. “No longer will someone have an unfair advantage over a Bahamian contractor. It gives them a real fighting chance to fairly and properly participate in the work that happens in this country; not just some of it but all of it.

“I think consumers are also finally going to get a better product for the money they spend. They are going to have the benefit of having more trained individuals offering contractor services, and hopefully persons who should not be engaged in offering construction services to the public will have a more difficult time to do so.”

The Construction Contractors Board will provide Bahamians with a more accessible avenue for redressing grievances with contractors, but Mr Sands acknowledged: “Enforcement is going to be the key thing. We’re finally going to have a body that’s going to enforce the rules of the industry. We’ll have a Board in place to do that. I think it’s going to be self-regulation to the benefit of everyone.”

The BCA president said the construction industry is the last major profession in The Bahamas yet to be brought under self-regulation. He added that the Board will have the power to fine and discipline rogue contractors, and even bring them before the courts, comparing its regulatory authority as the construction sector’s equivalent of the Bahamas Bar Council or Medical Council.

The BCA has the ability to submit the names of six Board members, with a further three appointed by the minister responsible for the construction industry on its advice. The final member of the ten-person Board will be the director of public works.

However, Mr Sands said self-regulation will take time to implement due to the ‘grandfathering in’ period for existing contractors and trades persons to become licensed and registered under the new system introduced by the Board.

The initial “grandfathering” period expired two years after the Act was passed in 2016, which would have been 2018. This now has to be reset, with the two-year period set to start in 2026 and run until 2028, the BCA president added.

“The Prime Minister did indicate that has to go back before Parliament for them to amend the timeline for grandfathering existing contractors,” Mr Sands added. “It would have ended in 2018. It now has to start from 2026 through to 2028.

“That’s going to be the new two-year period. The effective date will be when they announce the Board. It will be two years, 2026 through to 2028. That’s not a big thing. The Prime Minister reached out to have this meeting and share this information. I certainly believe it will happen in the timeline he said it will.”

Footnote

Building Page XX

Headline

New two-year ‘grandfather’

timeline plan for contractors