There are less than 20 days remaining before Baha Mar, the long anticipated integrated resort in the Bahamas opens its doors. But one little detail remains: The owners need to receive a gaming license.
The $4.2 billion project was scheduled to open nearly three years ago before a dispute between the owners and the Chinese construction company saw progress ground to a halt. Two years of negotiations and conflicts was finally resolved late last year when Hong Kong jewelry giant Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) was declared the owner. But a license still has awarded to Sky Warrior (Bahamas), the company’s subsidiary to operate the project’s 100,000 square foot casino, the largest in the Caribbean.
Last week, the gaming board published an advertisement announcing a public hearing on March 31. Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s vice president of government affairs, declined to comment to the Nassau Tribune, as did the two legislators who drove the sale process.
Prime Minister Perry Christie said everything was proceeding according to plan.
“The government works weekly in meeting with developers towards ensuring that everything remains on point. We have had other meetings with the Ministry of Works to ensure that the deadlines are met and so we are very happy and we are pushing and we are comfortable with what exists and we are obviously leaving the bookings and what happens on the 21st to the developer and the operators,” Christie told the Tribune.
“I worked very, very hard with a team of people to make this happen and regardless to what criticisms exist the reality is we are now on path where thousands of Bahamians will have meaningful, sustainable employment. It begins with at least 1,500 and some 700 or 800 are already hired. So hundreds of people are now on site and going through adjustments and orientation for the opening and I am so happy about that and I think the country is happy about that.”
But opposition politicians didn’t hesitate to criticize CTFE for hiring casino employees and beginning training before receiving the casino OK.
“This is obviously putting the cart before the horse and a bending of the rules to accommodate the Chinese,” said Dionisio D’Aguilar, a candidate for the legislature and former director of Baha Mar under the original owner, Sarkis Izmirlian. “There’s so much shenanigans going on in the background. The deal has not been revealed, the casino license application is only now being heard, and they want to get this done before the election.”
Less critical was the deputy leader of the opposition party, FNM, K P Turnquest.
“We’re obviously very pleased that Bahamians are being employed. We hope there will be a job for them when the project opens, and that it will open in timely fashion,” Turnquest told the Tribune.
“One of the things we don’t want to be accused of is hoping for a failure, like the government says; that’s not the truth at all. But with no casino license granted thus far, we are concerned about the long-term nature of this engagement.”
They also question the “rigorous investigation” promised by Christie late last year. Since CTFE has never operated a casino—the company as an investor in Stanley Ho’s SJM in Macau—due diligence may have taken longer.
Baha Mar is scheduled for a “soft opening” on April 21.
