The lack of attention to long-term planning for the Bahamian economy is hampering development and encouraging short-term, politically appeasing announcements, said Group Chief Executive Officer for Fidelity Bank and Trust International Limited Gowon Bowe recently.
Bowe made the comment to Guardian Business after Parliament was formally dissolved and a deal was announced for the development of a beach club at the Grand Lucayan resort – a partnership between Concord Wilshire Capital and MSC Group.
Bowe said: “We’re in a period of needing to discern what I’m going to call fact from fiction. What I mean by that is we’re at this stage where all political parties are presenting themselves in the most favorable way. So from the governing party’s perspective, they’re in a position where, yes, they can sign a number of contracts, they can execute a number of agreements, and if you will, present the image of a lot being done, when really the details need to be carefully analyzed, because there may not be any meaningful output from some of these initiatives for years to come.”
Bowe continued: “I’m not saying that these are not all intended projects, but which ones are plausible and will come to fruition in the foreseeable future, and those that are conceptual and still have a lot to be done?”
Concord Wilshire Capital and MSC Group, via its subsidiary CTL Maritime, have entered into a definitive agreement to redevelop a portion of the Grand Lucayan resort in Freeport, Grand Bahama. As part of a larger $827 million redevelopment plan, MSC Group is acquiring a 20-acre parcel of the resort to transform it into the MSC Beach Club.
Bowe further noted: “We can look at the Grand Lucayan as an example. There was a heads of agreement (HoA)… The whole structure of its financing and plans seem to have been changed quite significantly, because they’re now talking about a partnership effectively with MSC, which is positive news, because they are a massive organization with financial resources. That wasn’t what the original heads of agreement and publicized development was all about.
“So the reality is, if we use that as a prime example, was the sort of highly publicized signing fact or fiction? It appears that the details at that point in time certainly were not concretized, and they were more conceptual.”
He continued: “In terms of only reading the press statements, I don’t think that there’s any negativity in MSC joining the fray, however, it raises questions around the original agreement signed, and whether or not it was comprehensive. The reason why I say that is it appeared that Concord Wiltshire spoke about a massive redevelopment, but it never made mention of partnering with a cruise line, or partnering with any major developers, separate and apart from itself and its different brands.”
