Convention center could open by April
Several new twists unfolded last week in the continuing saga of Baha Mar, the $3.5 billion mega-resort project that has been sitting idle for nearly a year, construction having stalled with the six-hotel resort (four new properties, two refurbished existing hotels) 97 percent complete.
Construction on Baha Mar stalled last year after disputes arose between the developer and its contractor, China Construction America—a subsidiary of a company which, like the project’s main financier Export-Import Bank of China (Exim), is owned by the People’s Republic of China—over what Baha Mar Ltd. Chairman Sarkis Izmirlian claimed was sub-par work and a series of missed deadlines that caused the original planned December 2014 opening to be postponed indefinitely.
Izmirlian, who invested $900 million of his family’s money in the project, was forced out in November when Exim placed the project in receivership. The government of Prime Minister Perry Christie has since been working with Exim and the construction contractor ever since to line up new management that can quickly restart construction.
Last week, Izmirlian re-entered the picture, with an exclusive statement in the Bahamas Tribune in which he claimed to have been engaged in unsuccessful attempts to contact the prime minister to meet with him “if the government is serious” about getting the resort complete and open, to “put Bahamians back to work.”
That same article quoted an unnamed source as saying Exim had agreed in principal to fund the completion of Baha Mar, starting with the resort’s convention center, which, combined with existing hotel components, would be able to host an April conference of the Inter-American Development Bank. The remainder of Baha Mar would be completed shortly thereafter.
Christie, for his part, said he was surprised at Izmirlian’s statement, in which the Baha Mar founder said he had not heard from the prime minister since last summer, even though he had made several proposals for the completion of Baha Mar.
“I will have to call Mr. Izmirlian,” Christie said. ““I was unaware that Mr. Izmirlian was trying to see me.”
Christie also confirmed to the Tribune that Exim is ready to fund completion of the project. At the same time, the country’s Supreme Court has granted the government’s request for a three-month extension for stakeholders to reach a new settlement before the liquidation proceedings are wrapped up.
The government had asked for more time, citing “positive” signs for a resolution of the crisis and asking that the adjournment date for liquidation be moved to a May 2 hearing.
“There have been positive ongoing discussions between the Export-Import Bank of China and China State Construction Engineering Company with respect to the mobilization of construction and the resumption of work at the project,” Bahamian government attorney Loren Klein said in the petition to extend the negotiation period.
“As an interested party and stakeholder, the government has been kept informed of these discussions and has used its good offices to facilitate discussions between parties. It, therefore, believes that these discussions will imminently result in a plan for remobilization of the Baha Mar project and pave the way for a detailed timetable to move the project toward completion and reopening in the shortest possible timeframe.”
Christie said he is open to having Izmirlian involved in those stakeholder discussions. “It is for me it is of great interest to see that Mr. Izmirlian is interested,” he told the Tribune, “and I most certainly would endeavor to communicate with him to see what that means, because, as you would appreciate, it has nothing to do with the government in terms of this matter, which is in the hands of the provisional liquidators and the receiver managers and the bank, so really the government as a stakeholder would have an interest in being able to facilitate the resumption of construction to the point of completion.”
Members of the opposition Free National Movement party have said Christie’s optimism is a smokescreen, and that Baha Mar is not close to being revived. Christie dismissed the criticism.
“They are the opposition, and that is their right to say that,” he said. “The Prime Minister of the Bahamas must make a determination as to whether he can speak with optimism and hope. The Prime Minister would know how close we are and what else must take place before we can say we are at the point where construction will resume.”
