By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE deputy prime minister is asserting that the Government is “not robbing Peter to pay Paul” over its decision to switch Saudi financing from Exuma and North Eleuthera to instead fund Grand Bahama International Airport’s redevelopment.

Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, pushed back against concerns that this will deprive Exuma and North Eleuthera’s airports of financing for their own much-needed improvements as he reaffirmed funding for those projects is in place and remains secure.

Mr Cooper explained that alternative funding has already been secured for those two airports, thus enabling financing previously committed by the Saudi Fund for Development to be redirected to support Grand Bahama International Airport’s redevelopment.

He maintained that work on both Exuma and North Eleuthera airports is already “advancing,” and while Grand Bahama International’s redevelopment is still in its early stages, the Government will be “aggressive” in pushing it forward.

“I want to explain that we’re not robbing Peter to pay Paul. We’re building them all,” Mr Cooper said. “Exuma is already funded. Eleuthera is already funded. Those projects are advancing. 

“We had received a commitment from the Saudi Fund for Development for the Exuma, North Eleuthera airports, but we don’t need it for those airports any more, and therefore we’ve asked them to reallocate it to Grand Bahama and they have agreed. 

“I’ll release more information in due course about timing, etc. This is the beginning of the process. We’re going to be aggressive in terms of getting it done. 

“But the reality is that these things take time. But I had foreshadowed previously that we were going to make an announcement of funding for the airport, and we’ve advanced it so I’m pleased, and we’ll talk more about it in due course.”

Mr Cooper in April 2025 disclosed that the Government has switched to a new financier to fund North Eleuthera Airport’s $55m overhaul because the original Saudi source was too “slow and bureaucratic”.

He confirmed then that the the Davis administration had turned to one of the partners in the consortium undertaking the $80m transformation of Bimini’s airport, Plenary International Fund, in a bid to speed up its similar ambitions for North Eleuthera.

And he revealed that the same group, Island Airport Development Company, will also be hired to perform the construction work involving both “air side and land side” improvements. Besides immediate fixes to ease current woes at North Eleuthera, the group will also develop a new passenger terminal and be hired to repave the runway at Governor’s Harbour airport further south.

The Island Airport Development Company consortium features Plenary, the new financing source for North Eleuthera, as one of the partners. An infrastructure specialist, it is partnered with Phoenix Infrastructure, a US-based infrastructure advisory and investment firm with offices in Washington D.C and New York, and an airport and fixed-base FBO operator called Avports.

Meanwhile, Clay Sweeting, minister of works and Family Island affairs, told last week’s Exuma Business Outlook conference that Exuma’s international airport upgrades are being funded by $34.2m provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government.

However, the Opposition’s finance spokesman, Kwasi Thompson, criticised the Davis administration for what he called “ever-shifting promises” regarding the Grand Bahama International Airport redevelopment. 

In a statement, he demanded clarity on the funding arrangements for the Exuma and Eleuthera airports. “Once again, Bahamians are watching a familiar show from the Davis administration starring deputy prime minister Chester Cooper and his ever-shifting promises,” said Mr Thompson. 

He assured that ‘new funding sources’ will now cover those Family Island airports, but he never said who, what or where those funds are coming from. Bahamians deserve the facts, not another episode of ‘Trust us, details to come’.

“Grand Bahama urgently needs a modern, hurricane-resilient airport. The Government bought the facility back in April 2021 and promised swift redevelopment. Demolition was pledged for 2023, then again in February this year, when Mr. Cooper boldly declared it would begin ‘within 30 days,’” Mr Thompson added.

“Thirty days have come and gone - twice. No bulldozers, no cranes, no progress. 

“Now, Mr Cooper has added a new act to his playbook: Moving money instead of moving dirt.”

Mr Thompson also raised concerns about the financial implications of the airport redevelopment deals, warning that the Bahamian public could be burdened with significant debt if the Government continues to rely on opaque funding structures. 

He accused the Davis administration of deliberately concealing the true financial cost of major infrastructure projects, particularly those being executed under the banner of public-private partnerships (PPPs). 

“Will the Bahamian people be saddled yet again with hundreds of millions in hidden ‘off the book’ loans dressed up as so-called public-private partnerships?” Mr Thompson asked. 

“While this government brags about fiscal success, it has been hiding untold millions of dollars in debt from the Bahamian people. 

“This is the reason why they have to keep these deals a secret: The Davis/Cooper administration knows that they are hiding public debt from the Bahamian people.”

Mr Thompson suggested that while the Government publicly touts its fiscal management and economic recovery, it is simultaneously incurring undisclosed liabilities that do not appear on The Bahamas’ official balance sheet.

According to Mr Thompson, this approach misleads the public and erodes transparency around how much debt the country is truly taking on.