Party chief: Pay the contractor and restart the project
The problems continue for Sarkis Izmirlian, and the latest hits are not even related to his Baha Mar Resort project, the stalled $3.5 billion megaresort that is 90 percent finished and sitting idle in a dispute with the project’s Chinese contractor.
Last week, after a political party official called Izmirlian, a citizen of Switzerland, “anti-Bahamian,” Bahamas Immigration and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell threated to deport the executive.
Izmirlian is the majority owner and CEO of Baha Mar Ltd., which had planned to open the mega-resort last December, delayed the opening to March and then delayed it indefinitely as work ground to a halt. The stoppage is over a dispute with the construction contractor, the Chinese state-owned China Construction America (CCA). Izmirlian claims the project’s delayed openings are the fault of the contractor, and stopped paying CCA. CCA halted work, and the project sits idle.
Last week, Bradley Roberts, chairman of the Bahamas’ Progressive Labor Party, said in statement published by the Bahamas Tribune that Izmirlian is “anti-Bahamian,” and “obstructing” the completion of the Nassau project for his own gain.
Roberts accused Izmirlian of “hold Bahamians hostage” while he “fights his battle with the contractor and tries to dodge paying his loan to the bank.”
“The developer has played his hand,” Roberts said in the statement. “It is patently clear that he is obstructing the completion and opening of the project and is after his own gain. He declared bankruptcy without notice because he is anti-Bahamian. How else can he explain his decision, knowing that the consequence of his bankruptcy filing is to allow him to walk away from the more than $100 million in debt owed to Bahamian creditors and the Bahamian government and the legal contractual obligations to his partners? This is wrong.
“If Izmirlian is pro-Bahamian and cared for the welfare of his employees as he continuously claims in letter after letter, he will pay the contractor and get the project completed and the resort opened. It is only a matter of time before the 2,500 Baha Mar employees pose these very same questions to him.”
Baha Mar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a U.S. court, saying the bankruptcy protection would allow construction to start while Izmirlian arranged financing to finish the project. In addition to blaming CCA for the delays, he blasted Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie’s government for not providing adequate support to train Bahamian citizens for the 5,000 jobs expected to be generated by Baha Mar.
Christie sent a delegation to China to foster negotiations with the project’s main financier, China’s Export-Import Bank (Exim), Baha Mar and the contractor to get the project started again. He then announced that he was initiating proceedings for the Bahamian to liquidate and take over the project, to protect the jobs of more than 2,000 Bahamians already hired by the resort.
Roberts said in his statement that Izmirlian “knows full well that if he pays the contractor, the resort can be completed and opened this year in time for the winter season. Further, the contractor has demonstrated its commitment to completing the project by agreeing to a six-figure penalty for daily delays and a seven-figure sum for delays beyond a further agreed completion date..
“If he can’t or won’t get Baha Mar finished and opened, an independent provisional liquidator under the supervision of the independent Bahamian court can get the Baha Mar finished and opened and if urgently appointed, can do so this year. That is the government’s plan. Pure and simple.”
Within days after Roberts’ criticism, Mitchell publicly reminded Izmirlian that he is a guest in the Bahamas, and lives there at the government’s pleasure. He warned Izmirlian to “cease and desist” in his criticism of Perry, and reminded him that the Immigration Board can revoke his permanent residency status at any time.
Mitchell said Izmirlian’s criticisms of Christie is “offensive, improper and incompatible with the status of someone who is not a Bahamian… The late Clarence Bain used to say we must not be weak-kneed apologetic Negroes.
“This cannot stand. It is at the very least important for the invitation to be extended to that individual to consider making the appropriate steps to live elsewhere, if he does not wish to conform with the mores of the conduct of those who are economic guests in our country.”
Meanwhile, Bahamas opposition Free National Movement (FNM) leader Dr. Hubert Minnis called for Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson to step down over what he said is an “overt conflict of interest” regarding Baha Mar.
Last week, Maynard-Gibson revealed on local radio that her two daughters, ages 30 and 28, have interests in the stalled resort on Cable Beach.
Maynard-Gibson, who has led two government delegations to China to mediate negotiations with Baha Mar and its Chinese contractor and lender, said she is involved in no conflict of interest and that Christie is fully aware of her children’s interests.
