Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Aviation and Investments Chester Cooper yesterday committed the new Davis administration to moving forward with major investment projects left hanging in the balance when the Minnis administration was in power, saying the government will proceed if it makes sense.
At least half a dozen multimillion-dollar investments were awaiting government approval as of September 16, when the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won the general election, including the $110 million Royal Beach Club project on Paradise Island, the $170 million Carnival Cruise Line port redevelopment on Grand Bahama, the more than $250 million Disney Cruise port at Lighthouse Point on Eleuthera, the sale of the Grand Lucayan hotel on Grand Bahama to Royal Caribbean International and ITM Group, among others.
“We’re going to be having a detailed briefing this week on all of the investments in the pipeline. I’ve indicated before that we are investment-friendly. Our focus is to get more investments faster,” Cooper said before yesterday’s first official Cabinet meeting of the new Davis administration.
“We are going to be streamlining that process as well to make it more expedient and our objective really is to get shovels in the ground on as many of the projects as possible. If it makes sense, if it fits our government policies and priorities, then we are going to proceed with them.”
In addition to pledging to attract new foreign direct investments, the PLP promised in its Blueprint for Change to rebrand the Bahamas Investment Authority into Bahamas Invest to fast-track and promote a new model of foreign direct and domestic investment; as well as to establish an investment compliance unit to ensure that international investors comply with all of their obligations under statute and heads of agreement; and develop a domestic investment board to support Bahamian businesses in participating more fully in the Tourism Value Chain.
Speaking to his role as head of tourism, Cooper said while forward bookings remain strong in the coming months, the ministry is focused on increasing stopover numbers to pre-COVID levels.
“We’re going to be talking more about our business plan and our strategy moving forward in short order. The reality of the moment is we are looking at getting back to our pre-COVID numbers; our main priority will be to restore tourism numbers from those centers in the northeastern American states, to ensure that our stopover visitors, that those numbers get back to pre-COVID numbers. That’s priority number one,” he said.
“So, rest assured that we are focused on the spending of tourists in our economy and that’s our primary focus; we are going to be working on that diligently. I will have more to say on the overall strategy but priority number one is getting an increase of stopover visitors coming back to our shores. We’re looking pretty good so far compared to last year, which was a hard year. We are in advance of that. When we look at the bookings over the next few months, we are very positive.”
The Bahamas has welcomed in excess of 500,000 visitors since the start of the year.
The post DPM: Projects will proceed if they make sense appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/dpm-projects-will-proceed-if-they-make-sense/
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