Flipping Grand Bahama

So yesterday be began the series on the various promises made to the Government of The Bahamas made by Grand Bahama Port Authority. Today we are on to the second set of amendments in which there were some word changes, phrase changes and stating that Customs Duties would apply to homes when resold without bond. This was was signed by  His Excellency Sir Oswald Raynor Arthur, K.C.M.G, C.V.O, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Bahama Islands on behalf of the government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority. It further spoke to allowing the Broadcasting and Television Commission being allowed to come in and operate in the Port Area; that the Government will ensure the Port Area is served by aviation facilities for all purposes. Here it asked that the Port Authority has to state in writing to the Government everything it was doing. This amendment ended with more clarification on the allowance of Local Government in the Freeport area and their responsibilities. In...

I came across this great writing last evening while thinking of what my next post would be about. As usual the words of wisdom displayed by Bahamian Educator Dr. Donald McCartney really impresses me. It is a full explanation of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement as he sees it and I really do concur. Here it is in its entirety as it was written: This is another excerpt from my manuscript. it features the Hawksbill Creek Agreement in layman's terms. The Hawksbill Creek Agreement The Hawksbill Creek Agreement is a contract between the Bahamas government [at the time] acting on behalf of the British Crown and the Grand Bahama Port Authority. The principal concessions contained in the Agreement relates to taxation and customs duties within the area designated as the ‘Port Area.’ This Agreement was signed on the 4th August, 1955, by the Honourable A. G. N. Gardner-Brown, Acting Governor of the Bahamas, and Mr. Wallace Groves, President of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Limited. F...

Last week we looked at the being able to start up a business in 10 days in Grand Bahama/The Bahamas, but we were talking about Bahamians. So, what does it take for a foreigner to set up a business? Here is what I found from the World Bank - International Finance Corporation: 1 Search for a Company name and reserve the proposed name online  The online name search system has been in place since 2004 and it is estimated that less than 50% of all applicants use it while the rest still request the search in person. Since the majority of people cannot search it, it is mainly done by lawyers and service providers who include the name fees in their fees. The name reservation expires after 90 days.   Less than one day (online procedure) no charge (included in procedure 2) 2 A lawyer prepares and notarizes the company documents (memorandum and articles of association).  Legally, only the memorandum has to be filed at the moment of the incorporation. Standard Ar...

Is the Grand Bahama Port Authority still for sale? Some years about, within the last five years, there has been a few rumours about persons who were interested in purchasing the "Port"and one that stuck out in my mind was the British Parliamentarian Lord Michael Ashcroft. This flirting idea I was made to believe was rejected. True or not, we are left to speculate. Earlier this year I was able to get my hands on another investor who wanted to purchase shares in the Grand Bahama Port Authority, I guess with the hopes of being the major shareholders promising the world. Their report was left with members of the Grand Bahama Port Authority and is called "the Flemming Strategy" which took a look at the island as it is (was in 2009) and gave their ideas which would bring in lots of money and jobs to the island, beginning with a $26 billion injection right away. The report was compiled by Global Fulfillment Services in 2008. But I wonder, what were the circumsta...

Funny enough I got this thought from my pastors sermon on Sabbath. But we all know this is usually meant in the negative - Don't start something and there will be nothing! I was listening out for the great things the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas have for this island and it seems the great plans are a little ways off. On Friday as I was praising persons for their ideas that are starting things, I saw in The Freeport News that the East End Project is still coming.... but no dates were given. This project should be a lot of employment and more developments because now we will need more apartments out east for those who will move closer to work. The residual money earners are what I am looking at. Even with the big companies we presently have there are opportunities if we have the know how, to make a small thing better that can make us the world. Just this week I was listening to "Think and Grow Rich" and heard th...

The old pain of Grand Bahama has been explored and brought up a lot of unpleasantness. What it has not done is made anyone come up with more ideas of how to fix the problems. As I have said before, it's not just about the Government. It's not just a Port issue. It's an everyday people issue. Things change when people change and we are changing all the time.... so let's make an effort to all change for the better! I remember a few years ago I was listening to a speaker at a conference talking about a country to exemplify as it spoke of Singapore. The speaker (whom unfortunately I cannot recall at this time) spoke of how the country decided what sort of jobs and professions that they would need in the future and through the education system steering the students in those directions. With a concerted effort they changed their country for the best. I heard this speech and was inspired because I was thinking here is the answer to a perplexing question posed every year ...

The optimism of this blog is meant only to inspire others to think of what they can do to make life better for themselves and for the island which would mean making it better for the country. Asked about my blog, I thought it was self explanatory. Grand Bahama has been looking for a saviour and the residents need to wake up and realize they are that saviour and they need to begin by doing something. We have been through some of the history of Freeport and the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. In the archives there is the entire (well almost entire) Hawksbill Creek Agreement and the Bend or Break speech by the late Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling first Prime Minister of The Bahamas. There is a saying that if you don't know your past your are doomed to repeat it. In the past we had waited for the investors and we have planned on jobs that we don't want to work but  we have plotted on making money without working. Its time to re-think our future and make it one that says we are ...

I heard of a story of a young man in Grand Bahama being counseled recently and I can only applaud the gentleman who did the counseling. The young man had apparently went to restaurant to beg for food but what he got was so much more as the business man explained that if he fed him, he would be back but explained to him the ways of the system and how to get some money and how to help himself. Then came the important question that he asked the young man, "but, what are you doing for you?" It is a wake up call for all Grand Bahama residents living here after the storms of 2004/2005 - "What are you doing for you?" Yes it has been rough but there is something you can do. Yes the government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority pose some challenges especially if you think you don't know someone important or that you are not connected to someone important. But you can do something for you. If there are no jobs, follow your passion and do what you love to do...

On our regularly scheduled day we continue to bring you the speeches from the 16th Annual Grand Bahama Business Outlook hosted by TCLGroupLtd on Thursday February 27th, 2014. Today we have the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Obie Wilchcombe: Ms. Agatha Marcelle, Director, National Training Agency: Mr. George Gobin, Microsoft Country Manager for Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Belize and the Turks and Caicos Islands: More to come on Friday. Enjoy!

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...