Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party, the Hon. Fred Mitchell commented on an address given by the Prime Minister on the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) at a meeting of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
Mitchell, who has been vocal in the ongoing dispute between the government and the GBPA, said the Prime Minister’s speech was long overdue.
Mitchell said the speech “covered all the bases, the history, it laid out the facts and the legal issue, it pointed out the faults of the Grand Bahama Port Authority which seems to have become a collector of license fees and service charges with an inability or unwillingness to perform its core functions of investing in the city or promoting and attracting investment in the city. The speech was long overdue and one observer called the speech jaw dropping.”
The Minister added, “the Prime Minister exploded the myth by the stouthearts at the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and those carrying water for the Port that the business investment climate is suffering because of the demands by the government. The Prime Minister said not one investor has raised this as an issue. Further he pointed out that the Port Authority is demanding the service charges and licensing fees which is preventing smart contractors to carry out the work that is ordered by the government to fix the city.”
It was revealed in April that the government sent a letter to the GBPA demanding approximately $357 million in reimbursement for services rendered per a clause in the Hawksbill Creek Agreement.
