Julian Francis, former Port co-chairman and CEO, is also against the government interfering in executive decisions taken by the private company, which manages the city of Freeport.
“What might be in need of reform is the way the Port Authority, from its regulatory perspective certainly, operates,” said Mr. Francis, who spoke extensively about the Port, and about Freeport generally when he appeared as the special guest on the Love 97 programme, “Jones and Company”, on Sunday.
“Thatﾒs one of the things that I believe needs to happen. There needs to be more transparency with respect to the regulatory operations, it seems to me, of the Port area.”
He said that was an opinion he had even while he was co-chairman, and embarked on initiatives, which he thought in time would have brought about more transparency.
Mr. Francis said Freeport businesspeople need to know more clearly what the rules are.
“If those rules are established so that they are available to everyone you move a lot of the uncertainty,” he said, adding that he was obviously not speaking for the Port Authority.
The Port came to being in 1955 after American investor, Wallace Groves, and British financier, Sir Charles Hayward, came up with the vision that gave birth to the city of Freeport, through the signing of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement.
But Mr. Francis indicated that as far as heﾒs concerned, some of the provisions of this agreement are “antiquated”, but he wanted to make it clear that he was not suggesting that the Port itself was antiquated.
“We are living in evolving times. You canﾒt maintain these antiquated arrangements forever; youﾒve got to change,” said Mr. Francis, adding that the 99-year life of the agreement is too long.
“It was too long because we are, it turns out, after 50 years, in a much more dynamic mode than would have been envisaged back in 1955. The Bahamas today needs Freeport to play a more meaningful role in its development than a purely, closely held private company town would normally lend itself to.”
While saying that he was not seeking to give advice to the government in this regard, Mr. Francis said he believes the time has come to look at the arrangements, which created Freeport, in a more comprehensive way.
Asked why it is that Freeport appears to be lagging behind what is now a national economic boom, Mr. Francis said the time has also long come for there to be a more comprehensive approach taken to the role Freeport should play in the economic life of The Bahamas.
“The reason, I think, that it hasnﾒt been able to keep pace is that you have a particular kind of ownership in Freeport, which means that investors who come into Freeport have got to negotiate with that private ownership how they come into Freeport,” he noted, indicating that essentially many investors are frustrated that they have to deal with two “governments” in getting their approvals.
Mr. Francis also revealed that the Ginn Company ﾖ which has started its project in West End ﾖ had initially eyed Freeport for its multibillion-dollar development.
While he admitted that he was not entirely sure it was accurate, he said there are reports that when it first came to The Bahamas, Kerzner International (formerly Sun International) had eyed Freeport as well.
“I believe that just the fact that investors donﾒt quite understand how they need to negotiate that additional layer of bureaucracy plays a role in discouraging investment or slowing down the process by which investors would go into Freeport compared to elsewhere in The Bahamas,” he said.
According to the former Port co-chairman, this additional step has over the years frustrated investors.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
