By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Prime Minister Philip Davis announced yesterday that the government has granted land for a new Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) campus as the administration strives to create more opportunities for Bahamians.

While touring the Water Tower construction site, Mr Davis said the new BTVI campus is a “down payment on fairness” and part of the government’s broader scheme to train more locals at a rapid pace.

“This construction boom is real,” said Mr Davis.

“But so too is the need to make sure Bahamians are at the centre of it. The government I lead is not going to accept the idea that there aren’t enough trained Bahamians. We don’t write people off. We bring them in.”

He said in addition to the new campus the government is offering training through the apprenticeship programme and is working with the Department of Labour to create a skills bank and ensure that roles are filled by locals.

“Our apprenticeship programmes are expanding nationwide. Young people are being paid to learn a trade. We are partnering with industry to ensure that what is taught in the classroom matches what is needed on the job site,” said Mr Davis.

“We are directing the Departments of Labour and Immigration to coordinate so that the jobs being created stay in Bahamian hands. We are building a skills database so we know where the talent is and where we need to train more.”

He added that the Davis administration is “changing the system” so more locals can take ownership of the economy and companies that receive government contracts will be required to give Bahamians first opportunity for employment.

“And we are going further. Requiring that companies receiving government contracts give Bahamians the first opportunity for meaningful employment.”

The Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president Leonard Sands has called for the creation of a school dedicated solely to the construction industry to “aggressively” tackle skilled labour shortages.

Last month, Mr Sands told Tribune Business that construction was “too big an industry”, and too important to the Bahamian economy’s growth and well-being, not to have a specialist school focused only on producing qualified electricians, carpenters, masons, plumbers and other skilled tradesmen in the quantities that the sector requires.

“We need a construction school in The Bahamas,” said Mr Sands. “There has to be a construction school. Construction is too big an industry and employers need to be training persons in construction aggressively. Persons will say we have BTVI, but I’m specifically talking about a construction trades school.

 “If 1,000 school leavers are looking for the industry to absorb them, and they have not got a skill and we don’t train these people, the numbers will increase the next year. At some point in time we will have a need for 5,000 to 6,000 people. If we don’t train them, where do we think they’re going to come from? If we don’t train them, and know we’re going to need them, we’re going to have to import them. It’s as simple as that.”

Explaining why a dedicated construction school is required, Mr Sands added: “The reason it cannot work properly through BTVI is because BTVI is an institution where you train to get certified in a certain way. Industry training, from going to work, is different. It’s shorter, more accelerated and focused on targeting the industry.

 “You don’t want to sit a guy in the classroom for most of the course. He’s going to work in the field. If you look at trade shops in the US, which I have experience of, you work all day and go to trade shops at night. You sit and learn a bit of theory for an hour, but the emphasis is on working in the field.

 “Plumbers make $2,000 a week not from paperwork, but with expertise. And expertise comes from experience, and experience comes only from working in the field. That’s how industry approaches it. We’re talking about what industry needs and business needs. Industry needs trained people, and businesses know what they need and what works for their business,” the BCA president continued. “We have some labour issues we need to look at.”