For at least the third time this year, busineses and residents of Cable Beach were forced to go without power when construction workers on the Baha Mar project carelessly cut the underground power cables.
Residents were inconvenienced and many businesses lost money as they waited for the technicians from BEC to reroute power lines until they could repair the damage done by the careless workers.
“The first time this happened, I was forgiving,” said one angry businessman. “This time I think they should compensate the businesses in the area, some of us lost money,” he added.
Indeed, the shops and businesses that were disrupted from the extended road work on Blue Hill Road sued the government for their loss of business. The case was eventually decided in the favor of government but for only obscure legal reasons, not because the government was not responsible for the loss of income.
It is understood that Baha Mar will have to pay BEC for the work crews who had to go out and restore the power.
It seems only reasonable that the businesses in the Cable Beach area, that were negatively affected by the power outage, should also be able to bill Baha Mar for their loss of income. After all, it was the company’s negligence that caused the loss.
The loss of electricity for the third time this year reflects on the poor quality, sloppy work that is being done on the Baha Mar project and should make people wonder if other safety and environmental standards are being upheld.
It is easy to tell when the power goes off, but what about other factors that are not so easily detected, like water quality for example. How can residents of Cable Beach be sure that their ground water is not being polluted? What other environmental standards are being ignored?
The Albany Project in southwest New Providence was lauded for its careful construction process and environmental stewardship.
The Baha Mar project appears to be the opposite.
Worse yet, the project is just in its infancy. When it is is full-gear, with thousands of non-English speaking Chinese workers and hordes of unskilled Bahamians, it is scary to think of the possibilities for negative consequences.
Calls to Baha Mar’s executive office for an explanation went unanswered.
