Government decisions regarding land development in The Bahamas are made in a vacuum without a real understanding of the carrying capacity of the infrastructure, according to the InterAmerican Development Bank [IDB] which just recently approved a $3.5 million loan for a land use policy and administration project.
Prime Minister Perry Christie has admitted as much in recent times, conceding that the Government of The Bahamas has to strike a balance between the various development projects that it is relying on to stimulate economic growth and preserving treasured resources.
In a document detailing the loan proposal, the project team lead by Fernando Bretas, said the sustainable use and rational development of land and coastal resources is vital to avoid a long-term detrimental impact on the economy.
“Currently, the natural resources are under pressure from unplanned and in some cases difficult to sustain development,” the report noted.
The land administration project is intended to substantially reduce the time required for recording deeds, increase the property tax payrolls by 20 percent and bolster revenues generated from crown lands by 40 percent.
Crown land accounts for approximately 70 percent of all land in the country with the remainder being private property. Of the 3.45 million acres of crown land on the major islands, the government allocates a little more than 32 percent of it.
The IDB says a specific policy that relates to crown land is crucial.
“A clearly defined crown land policy is essential in order to improve land tenure security and ensure the effective and sustainable use of land resources. While standard administrative procedures are in place, allocation, administration and pricing are done on a largely ad-hoc basis.
“In general, the process for allocating crown land is not well understood by the general public and largely in part due to the lack of a clearly stated government policy, is open to the perception of unfairness and favouritism,” the document said.
Over the years and in recent times, there have been conflicts in which certain individuals have alleged impropriety in the government grant of crown lands for certain development projects.
The government has been working in overdrive to attract various levels of direct foreign investment for a series of anchor projects that could boost the smaller, underdeveloped economies of the Family Islands.
But while the prime minister has endorsed this trend, he made it clear that a balance has to be struck between public and private interests.
Just recently he said the government intends to purchase land in the South Ocean area to prevent it from being sold as part of a proposed multimillion-dollar subdivision.
The American investors seeking the government’s approval for the subdivision want to develop it as an exclusive gated community with a Tiger Woods golf course to attract some of the world’s wealthiest people, Mr. Christie said.
Only recently, the prime minister told The Bahama Journal that the government is looking favourably at a plan for the luxurious community development, which also includes a marina.
He urged a balanced approach to development.
“We don’t want to get ourselves in the position where we say no to foreign investors in purchasing. We want to be careful of that, but at the same time we know that to have the social calming effect in our country we have to be able to always have this balance between what is happening to effect the inflow of capital and what is happening to give Bahamians the release to move upward,” he said.
IDB consultants acknowledged the absence of an integrated national land policy to ensure a pattern of growth and use of land that supports land development while addressing sustainability issues and environmental concerns.
The existing model, they said, was not designed to address the type of development pressure that the country, specifically the Family Islands, is currently experiencing and actively promoting as a strategy for economic development.
The revised policy that the government will pursue with the IDB loan would also provide for digital mapping, geographic databases and a parcel information management system to record location, ownership and property values on the most populated islands of New Providence and Grand Bahama.
A computerized information system and a land surveying initiative will rationalize procedures and facilitate grants and leases of crown land.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
