The Hawksbill Creek Agreement
There is been much said about the formation of Freeport and the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, but today I want to look specifically at the Agreement itself. This Agreement signed August 5th 1955, was designed to make a “free port” that would encourage foreign investors to come to Grand Bahama Island through a variety of tax exemptions. It was signed between the Government of The Bahamas and the Grand Bahama Port Authority, which was a private company founded by Virginian financier Wallace Groves. The Agreement granted the Port, as it is called, the first 50,000 of crown land with exclusive rights to develop. In return, the Port Authority was required to dredge a deepwater harbour, construct an airport, hospitals and schools and provide other services and amenities. Later the Port acquired additional land from the crown and from private sources, giving it a total of 150,000 acres or 233 square miles for development. Through the years that have been a lot of dispute over how the i