By: Candia Dames

24 January 2006

Chairman of The Grand Bahama Port Authority Julian Francis yesterday said the government needs to extend the benefits of the Hawskbill Creek Agreement and he suggested that generally there is too much micromanaging on the part of the government.

"The government, I would hope, can be persuaded that it is in the interest of the entire Bahamas, in the interest of Bahamian businesses, in the broad interest of the Bahamian people, to see Freeport and the wider Grand Bahama Island develop as rapidly as it can," said Mr. Francis, who added that Grand Bahama today, if it had the housing stock, could with its present infrastructure support the entire Bahamian population.

"That is the scope of opportunity that we’re talking about."

In its 2002 campaign document, "Our Plan", the government in fact promises to extend the benefits enjoyed by businesses in Freeport to areas outside the port area as an encouragement to greater development and investment by Bahamians and foreigners alike.

Addressing the 2006 Bahamas Business Outlook Seminar at the Wyndham Nassau Resort, Mr. Francis said Grand Bahama can be the example of the kind of success The Bahamas can enjoy.

"We are just far too smug as a community and the truth is…we are losing our comparative position in the world economy…We continue to be focused or to be pre-occupied in The Bahamas with the trappings of development, but we don’t seem to be willing to take on the issues of development very seriously."

He said The Bahamas has a great opportunity to be a shining example of social and economic progress in this part of the world, but has not stepped up the challenge.

In concrete terms, Mr. Francis said this would mean having one of the most successful economies in the world.

"We consider very nominal successes as being the real accomplishment that we should seek to aim for and not the substance of success. It distresses me a great deal when I think about it as a Bahamian," said Mr. Francis, who added that this is one of the reasons why he is delighted that he relocated to Freeport.

"I see it as an opportunity to take charge of your own destiny and to do things, which in the wider Bahamas we haven’t been able to do. I believe that this is what Freeport really represents for The Bahamas.

"It represents an opportunity to unleash the power and the dynamism of the private sector without the shackles of bureaucracy and public policy generally and those other issues that have not worked to be able to forge ahead in accordance with this private experiment."

The Port Authority Chairman said in the context of a serious programme for development of The Bahamas it would be criminal not to take advantage of the development that has taken place in Freeport over the last 50 years.

He also said that generally, The Bahamas has not been serious enough about instituting the kinds of reforms that would help the country experience more meaningful growth and development.

"I haven’t seen any real evidence that The Bahamas is reform-minded and in fact the evidence to me suggests that just the contrary is true," Mr. Francis said. "We have a bloated public service; we have unions which are always on the increase and stronger and stronger and it just seems to me that we have not been willing to take advantage of so many opportunities which are available to a small, potentially dynamic country.

"We can’t protect our country by putting up barriers, by creating stronger labour unions which try to provide some semblance of work protection and things like that. That is not the solution, nor is it the solution that we construct all of these social arrangements intended ostensibly to protect a large number of people, but in fact what we’re doing is removing any incentive for people to be productive."

Mr. Francis also said he wondered what it would take "to cause us, as it were, to awaken from this sleep."