Mayaguana has been identified as the next free port and economic enterprise zone in the Bahamas, Allyson Maynard-Gibson, minister of financial services and investments, told The Tribune newspaper.
Mrs Maynard-Gibson said the Government had chosen Mayaguana as the first location for an economic initiative that will attempt to model what the Hawksbill Creek Agreement has done for Freeport.
She added that Mayaguana was chosen because the Government wanted to implement a fully-planned development, rather than superimposing the initiative on a population and infrastructure that were already in place.
Looking at the promised development of free ports and economic enterprise zones in the Family Islands, the minister of financial services and investments emphasised, however, that creating such a venture in Mayaguana would be a longterm development and was not slated for the short-term.
“Like Freeport, the construction of a free port zone in Mayaguana will take 20 to 25 years to be fully built out,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson added.
She said the Government was still considering how such a development would work in Mayaguana and to what extent the I-Group, developers of a $500 million tourism development, would be involved. The I-Group is participating in a joint venture with the Hotel Corporation of the Bahamas, and the pair have formed the Mayaguana Development Company (MDC).
Looking at Grand Bahama Mrs Maynard-Gibson said the Government, along with the Grand Bahama Port Authority, was in the process of developing the area between the sea/container port and the air- ļ¾ port into a logistics centre, which would further solidify the island’s position as an industrial centre.
Addressing points, in the Government’s National Investment Strategy paper, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said her ministry had hoped to get legislation on amendments to the Timeshare Act out by October. She said, however that the legislation was now expected to he tabled before Parliament during the next sitting of the House.
Looking at the development of the Bahamian small business and entrepreneurial sector. Mrs Maynard-Gibson said that while the Ministry of Finance was the principle ministry in this area, she did meet regularly with the banking sector and continued to point out that it was important to lend to Bahamian entrepreneurs, on favourable terms, capital for investment, instead of only providing suitable terms for consumer loans.
She said further that it was the development of a strong small business and entrepreneurial sector that would help to deepen the Bahamian economy and protect it against external shocks.
By: Yolanda Deleveaux, Senior Business Reporter, The Tribune
