Every major development project in the Bahamas, including the multibillion-dollar Baha Mar casino complex on Cable Beach, has a Chinese connection, according to Kenwood Kerr, chief executive officer of Providence Advisors, a leading pension administrator, investment manager and financial services provider. “It would appear that every major project seems to be, by either intent or default, driven by the Chinese. It just seems to me that our own government seems to prefer, in every instance, either Chinese financing, Chinese technical expertise and with that comes Chinese labor. That squeezes out local institutions, local service providers–in terms of the engineering, the construction, the banks–and the labor, because their business model is to bring their labor with their capital,” Kerr said.
Historically, the Bahamas’ economy has been tied to North America, Kerr noted, “so we have to be very careful of the extent to which we indulge and cater to those Chinese interests.”
In addition to Baha Mar, the Export-Import Bank of China is funding, or has funded the new sports stadium in Oakes, a new $50 million domestic and foreign port facility in North Abaco and part of the New Providence Road Improvement Project. Also, Baha Mar’s general contractor, China State Construction and Engineering Corporation, earlier presented a master plan for redeveloping Downtown Nassau and is a frontrunner to buy the British Colonial Hilton. Prime Minister Perry Christie has confirmed that CSCEC has put in a bid to take over power generation for the Bahamas Electricity Corporation.
Kerr noted Chinese financing’s “default position” impacts the capital markets, “the deal structuring, the banks, the professionals and the laborers. That’s a concern to me,” he said. The Bahamas’ capital exceeds $3 billion, meaning the nation “cannot put our money up against theirs.” But those in the local capital markets are denied the opportunity to invest, he said, “so we remain narrowly structured in terms of the thinness of the market, the depth of the market and the diversity of opportunities.”
