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BY KEVA LIGHTBOURNE
GUARDIAN STAFF
REPORTER
The government has
not "put a stop" to a $100-million-dollar
Bimini Bay Deveopment project, Minister of Works and
Utilities, Bradley Roberts said Sunday.
Mr Roberts told the
Guardian that the government is intent on attracting
investments to The Bahamas, and Geraldo Capo, the
project's developer, wants to proceed.
However, Valentine
Grimes, Mr Capo's lawyer, said that the magnitude of
the investment has been substantially reduced, and a
down-sized project - delayed since 1997, is now
expected to get underway by December of 2004.
Last Wednesday,
Ambassador for the Environment, Keod Smith, told the
Guardian that the government had "put a
stop" to the project pending the receipt of a
more detailed environmental impact assessment and
other information requested sometime ago by the
Bahamas Environment Science and Technology (BEST)
commission, which he chairs.
In a statement to
the Guardian, Mr Smith said that the developer
understood that he should discontinue work until the
requested data had been forwarded.
According to Mr
Smith, "What should have been done to keep from
causing the damage that was done, obviously should
have been done three years or more ago. Certainly
within 18 months or so of the commencement of the
project, the powers that be ought to have known that
there was no way that he could complete it, and they
should have intervened, asked him what is the
situation and why had he not gone forward."
He added:
"There is a lot of speculation, but we can't just
speculate; we have to go on the basis of what is
factual. But it is now in hand, and hopefully our
evaluations would determine that the damage has not
been so severe, or that it is not irreparable. So we
might be able to fix it. Because, if it is in fact
that it can be fixed, then one of the suggestions
which I will be making is that the developer pay to
have it fixed."
However, according
to Mr Grimes, "Neither am I aware, nor is my
client Mr. Capo aware, or any other officer or
director of RAV Bahamas aware, that any stoppage
whatsoever has been given to the project from the
Government of The Bahamas."
In fact, he said,
meetings have been held with Prime Minister Perry
Christie, Works Minister Roberts, Health Minister
Marcus Bethel; Bimini representative and Minister of
Tourism, Obie Wilchcombe; the BEST Commission itself,
and the project has been assured of the government's
full support
The
$100-million-dollar, 700-acre development proposed by
Mr Capo, was approved by the Free National Movement
Government in July, 1997.
A five-year
"Heads of Agreement" called for a hotel of
not less than 200 rooms, a residential sub-division, a
marina capable of handling more than 150 boats, an
18-hole golf course, a commercial centre, gourmet
restaurants, a boutique, a health spa, a marine shop,
tennis courts, children's play area, and a 10,000
square-foot casino.
No buildings have
as yet been constructed.
Mr. Grimes
continued: "I state categorically, and my client
states categorically that no department having
jurisdiction over the project has ordered, requested
my client to discontinue the project.
"The
Government of The Bahamas is anxious for us to
proceed," he said. "We have submitted plans
to the Town Planning Committee of Bimini; plans to the
Town Planning Committee in Nassau; we have submitted
plans to the Subdivision Department of the Ministry of
Works and the Building Department. We have had
meetings with them, and to the best of my knowledge,
those plans have been approved by the town Planning
Committee of Bimini, by the Town Planning Committee
here in Nassau, and has been approved by most of the
Departments in the Ministry of Works (Electrical,
Mechanical) and is in the process of being approved by
the Structural Department of the Ministry of Works,
and we anticipate having the permits that we have
applied for very, very shortly."
Mr. Grimes said
that modifications have been made to the proposed
development, all of which have been approved by the
relevant government agencies, and the developer is
proceeding in accordance with these approvals.
The project has
been scaled down, he said, with fewer housing units,
condominiums, and hotel rooms planned. A density
factor of 6.5 units per acre was reduced to
approximately 2.8 units per acre, he said.
"As soon as
permits for construction are in hand, vertical
construction will commence immediately," Mr
Grimes said. "All of the materials are on hand
for the construction of many units that we anticipate
commencing immediately upon receipt of those permits
we have applied for."
The project was
originally planned to start in 1997, but the start-up
date was changed to December, 1999, Mr Grimes said,
anticipating that by December 2004, the development
will be well on its way, within the terms that have
been agreed between Mr Capo and the Government of The
Bahamas.
Asked to comment on
concerns expressed by environmental groups, including
Bimini residents, Mr. Grimes said: "We are
unaware of any negative impact that the project has
caused to the environment. Keep in mind that it is the
beauty of Bimini, the excellence of the environment in
Bimini that attracted my client to Bimini in the first
instance.
"It would be
counterproductive to the interest of the people of
Bimini, to Bahamians in general, and to our client for
my client to do anything to adversely affect the
environment," he said.
As for reported
difficulties by yachts entering the Bimini harbour,
Mr. Grimes said that harbour silting had been
occurring "for tens and tens of years." An
early-1970's report documented silting problems which
made navigation difficult for vessels in transit
between North Bimini and South Bimini, he said.
"There is
nothing that my client has done, to the best of his
knowledge, that in any shape, form, or the other has
adversely affected the navigation into the harbour of
Bimini," Mr. Grimes said. "In fact the
interest to the Bimini harbour is a significant
distance away from where my client's project is.
"What my
client has done is, he has dredged a channel
approximately 1.5 miles from his project," he
outlined. "A channel that runs in some shape,
form or the other parallel to an old channel that was
there. The channel is approximately 120 feet wide and
is 15 feet deep. That is the extent of the dredging of
my client insofar as the harbour of Bimini is
concerned, and that dredging is a significant distance
away from the entrance of the Bimini Harbour where the
silting problem arises."
Mr Capo will
continue to work diligently with the BEST Commission
to ensure that the interest of the Bahamian people is
protected, Mr Grimes said.
Posted Monday April
14, 2003
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