An executive with the $175 million Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club yesterday said Bahamians worried too much about work permits, saying that these should be “abolished” and this country’s workforce instead concentrate on ensuring they were better than anyone else.
Christopher Baker, a chartered accountant, told a Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) seminar: “I believe they [work permits] should be abolished. I do no believe they are necessary… I don’t think you need to worry about work permits a much as you do.”
Mr Baker, who previously, worked for Hutchison Whampoa on Grand Bahama before joining Discovery Land Company’s Great Guana Cay project, said Bahamians instead needed to ensure they were better than foreign workers, having more education and greater skills.
Economy
He added that if the economy was “thriving”, foreign workers with specialist skills would help train the Bahamian workforce, and should be allowed in to the country. A side issue on work permits, though, was the revenue they brought in for the Government.
Mr Baker also advocated that the Bahamas should remove its exchange controls. Acknowledging that he was not an economist and speaking from personal viewpoint, he added: “Exchange controls, in my opinion, are not necessary for the Bahamas. In my experience, it has not really helped development in small countries like the Bahamas. The freer you make it, the better for everyone, including the locals.”
Mr Baker praised the Government for its attitude and creating the right environment in the Bahamas for attracting foreign investment, allowing the private sector – both Bahamian and foreign – to thrive.
On the Baker’s Bay development, Mr Baker added: “The setting is beautiful, the price is right and the Government was supportive. All of these things had to come together if we were going to make an investment of this magnitude in a place like Great Guana Cay.”
However, he acknowledged that bureaucracy did cause “time delays” for investors in the Bahamas. Drawing on an example from his time with Hutchison Whampoa, Mr Baker said it took “over 12 months” for Isle of Capri to receive the necessary government approvals to operate the casino at Grand Bahama’s Our Lucaya resort, something that cost the Government alone some $5 million in casino taxes.
Stressing that he was not suggesting there should be shortcuts in the approvals process, and that he was not singling out the Bahamas, Mr Baker added: “It’s a problem around the world. These things need to be addressed. It is a major problem for a foreign investor.”
Mr Baker said the Bahamas needed foreign direct investment for its economy to prosper, although the onus was on this nation as “to how to best use and divert it.”
He suggested that the Bahamas also look at providing research and development (R&D) incentives to attract companies, pointing to the example of Ireland, which had used them to draw in pharmaceutical, software and computer companies. Mr Baker said foreign investment would also help to create job opportunities for the 5,000 Bahamian school leavers every year.
Describing Baker’s Bay as “the jewel in the crown” of Discovery Land Company’s high-end, private gated communities, Mr Baker said: “We believe we are setting the benchmark for the future. We have the product, as proven by our other developments, and we have the market. We believe we will go way beyond what any other developer has and will do in the Bahamas.”
Discovery Land Company had spent $3 million to purchase a yacht that will take potential buyers of lots and residences from Marsh Harbour to Great Guana Cay, and was spending an extra $20 million to excavate the marina and address environmental concerns.
Source: Neil Hartnell, The Tribune
