NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – The Bahamas government predicts that at least 3,000 new jobs will be created here over the next three years due to an estimated six billion dollars in investments over the same period.
“Overall, if you look at the $6 billion, $7 billion, I would imagine that would be in the region of 2,000 to 3,000 new jobs directly with other spill-offs in the other areas as the projects come out of the pipeline and the operations; of course, there are construction jobs once the projects get going,” said Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper.
Speaking on a radio program here, Cooper said that the Phillip Davis administration is convinced that foreign direct investment (FDI) is the fastest way to grow the national economy.
“So over time, I think it’s a healthy priming of the pump, if you will, for the years to come, and if we can sustain development growth, we’re seeing investments in tourism and other sectors of the economy; we will have a very positive outlook for the future,” said Cooper, who is also the Tourism, Investments, and Aviation Minister.
He told listeners to the “Z Live” Guardian Radio talk with Zhivargo Laing that “when you talk about the new projects, I think we agree that the fastest way to get the economy going is through foreign direct investments.
“We’ve been doing what I consider to be a very focused job in getting these projects going and out of the pipeline,” he said, noting that on the island of Exuma, an estimated US$1.5 billion worth of projects have already been approved.
“I assessed Exuma recently; in the region of 500 to 600 new jobs will be created in Exuma due to these $1.5 billion roughly coming out of the pipeline.”
He told listeners that he expects a significant increase in room capacity in the Bahamas over the next three years, putting it as high as 40 percent.
“I don’t have those numbers in front of me, but it will be pretty dramatic if we can quickly get these projects going.
“We have approved about six billion dollars worth of new investments in the touristic sector,” he said, noting that construction is booming.
“They are in various stages. But construction work has begun in many of these projects already, so one of the things we’re doing at Bahamas Investment Authority is working with the multi-agency group to help facilitate these projects out of the pipeline.
“The water doesn’t do you any good [as long as] it’s the pipeline. It has got to come out of the tap. So one of the things that we’re doing is to try to accelerate that by working along with the various government agencies,” Cooper said, adding that investment projects are being rolled out nationwide.
“Eleuthera is very popular. Abaco has been extremely popular with a large [amount of] rebuilding or acquiring existing properties [that are] being refurbished. There are significant interests in Grand Bahama with announced projects that [are] yet to be underway regarding shovels in the ground.
“There’s another major project in the west of Grand Bahama that’s been approved. That’s in the region of US $ 300 million. As I’ve said before, there’s significant interest in the Grand Lucayan resort.
“We have $200 million invested in the Carnival Cruise Port, and significant construction is underway there in Grand Bahama. Some other announcements are going to be coming shortly for Grand Bahama.”
The Deputy Prime Minister said that he was also a strong supporter of nationals investing in the local economy, saying, “You know, my background in business has been a life of encouraging people to save and invest, but when we look at the tourism business directly, it is regrettable that except for a few pockets like Cotton Bay or Island House, and some bonefish lodges and small boutique resorts, by and large, the most significant investments in tourism have come from foreigners.
“So I think that component of the economy has been critical in the growth of our country, but we have to continue to push and encourage more Bahamian domestic investments,” Cooper told radio listeners.
and then 