{"id":17140,"date":"2012-01-23T08:59:52","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T13:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=17140"},"modified":"2012-01-23T11:14:16","modified_gmt":"2012-01-23T16:14:16","slug":"ingraham-promises-to-protect-bahamian-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/01\/ingraham-promises-to-protect-bahamian-workers","title":{"rendered":"Ingraham Promises To Protect Bahamian Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham makes a clear public statement that there is no threat to jobs at Atlantis. (BIS Photo \/ Gena Gibbs).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nassau, The Bahamas \u2013 With the recent proposals of the acquisition of Atlantis by one of its lenders, employment security in the tourism sector has Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham committed to leadership that protects Bahamian workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to monitor events and assist where appropriate and helpful.\u00a0\u00a0 Our overriding responsibility is for the protection of Bahamian jobs and the long- term viability of Atlantis,” Mr. Ingraham told an audience on January 19.<\/p>\n

“It is one of the leading resorts in the Caribbean, if not the leading one.\u00a0\u00a0 It has been good for The Bahamas and it has a good future,\u201d said the prime minister.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister told the gathering at the political headquarters of Environment Minister Earl Deveaux that this is a time for caution and restraint, clear thinking and calm heads.\u00a0\u00a0 He said he believes it\u00a0 appropriate to recall that when Atlantis came, those opposed to it were so incensed, they threatened to change the agreement at the most convenient opportunity.<\/p>\n

He said it would be inappropriate to comment on the matter day in and out and seek to conduct the public\u2019s business in public view.\u00a0\u00a0 He reminded that the hotel industry failed prior to 1992, when the Bahamas Government was burdened by the rising debt of its investment in hotel ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we came into office in 1992, we found the two major resorts in The Bahamas, Paradise Island Resorts International was in bankruptcy and the Cable Beach properties were on the market for sale.\u00a0\u00a0 And the Government of The Bahamas owned 20 percent of all the hotels in The Bahamas and was losing money every day.\u00a0\u00a0 We worked very hard to transform Paradise Island with Sol Kerzner.\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s been good for us and good for The Bahamas,\u201d said Prime Minister Ingraham.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026In 2006, Atlantis decided, Kerzner International decided, it wanted to borrow lots of money; billions of dollars.\u00a0\u00a0 It did put up Phase Three in Nassau, in Paradise Island, but it also used much of that money to invest outside The Bahamas.\u00a0\u00a0 And it put up as security for the loan, Atlantis and the Paradise Island properties.\u00a0\u00a0 That was a very bad decision because while Atlantis \/ Paradise Island could support and pay for all of the monies borrowed for it.\u00a0\u00a0 It cannot pay for what\u2019s happening in Dubai, Mexico and elsewhere,\u201d said Mr. Ingraham.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ingraham revealed that the Atlantis loan was a short-term loan with outrageous terms of paying off $2.5 Billion in five years, which is not possible for Atlantis to meet.\u00a0\u00a0 He drew an analogy by comparing the multi-national corporate loan to an average mortgage commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know we have to get 20 and 25 year to 30 year mortgages to pay for our houses.\u00a0\u00a0 But it was expected at the time, they would be able to get somebody else or another set of lenders to lend them money to pay off the first set of lenders.\u00a0\u00a0 That is not to be,\u201d said Prime Minister Ingraham.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were seven lenders, who lent them money, $2.3 billion, and when they couldn\u2019t make the payment and they couldn\u2019t pay, the lenders decided to take action.\u00a0\u00a0 There was nothing the government could do about a bank that lends you money and you don\u2019t pay them back.\u00a0\u00a0 They will put your building up for it and the bank owns it to sell it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Ingraham explained that the bank and the lenders have an interest in making sure they can get their money back from Atlantis, so it is in their interest to make sure Atlantis succeeds and makes a profit so they can eventually get a return on their investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it makes good sense for them not to fire people at Atlantis, but instead to keep up with them and try to make as much money as they can at Atlantis.\u00a0\u00a0 That is exactly what they are seeking to do,\u201d said Prime Minister Ingraham.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave no fear.\u00a0\u00a0 No jobs are being lost.\u00a0\u00a0 The owners are coming to terms amongst themselves.\u00a0\u00a0 In the meantime, until something happens between the lenders, Mr. Kerzner still owns Atlantis.\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s still running Atlantis.\u00a0\u00a0 We were happy with him last year.\u00a0\u00a0 We are happy with him today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Ingraham told the public to \u201cpay no mind\u201d to vicious rumours that have no financial or economic documentation to validate its foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so I say to you, pay no mind to them, pay no attention to them.\u00a0\u00a0 We have your back.\u00a0\u00a0 We have your best interest at heart and we are connected, we are involved, we are engaged and you can put your trust in us,\u201d said the prime minister.<\/p>\n

By Gena Gibbs
\nBAHAMAS INFORMATION SERVICES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Ingraham said, “Our overriding responsibility is for the protection of Bahamian jobs and the long- term viability of Atlantis.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[109,72,98,25],"class_list":["post-17140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-atlantis","tag-employment","tag-financial","tag-hotels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}