Prime Minister Perry Christie on Thursday revealed that the I-Group of Boston has agreed to set up a trust fund, eventually expected to provide a half million dollars for the Mayaguana communities each year.
“We have provided for you this wonderful fund,” he told residents, spelling the word out, “fﾅuﾅnﾅd. Money. The company has agreed to create a trust fundﾅand ultimately it is expected to receive at least $500,000 each year, and grow for community purposes.”
The prime minister said the money would ensure that the community has access to community facilities, play areas for children and educational opportunities.
At a celebration ceremony a few hundred yards from the airport near Abrahamﾴs Bay, Mr. Christie also explained his choice of the unusual form of a 50/50 joint venture with the I-Group. The government will be a part owner of the $1.8 billion development, but will come up with no capital although it will get half the profits.
It will provide nearly 10,000 acres of Crown Land for the project and concessions under the relevant pieces of legislation.
The prime minister said the thinking behind the joint venture is make money, yes, but also to preserve the culture and customs of Mayaguana; to, in his words, “guarantee the social equilibrium” as the development goes forward. He said his administration did not wish to risk the developers changing that culture and those customs.
Stephen Roy, the I-Group chief, said on Thursday that his companyﾴs intention has been to be a good community partner. He pointed out that the company had already built starter roads to all the places on the island where development is scheduled.
Those roads were built by Bahamian workers, mostly from Mayaguana, according to Manager of Operations Ramadan McKenzie.
Mr. McKenzie prefers to call himself simply the “team leader,” and explained that the majority of the young men on Mayaguana who want to work are working for The Mayaguana Company. Mayaguana has a population of less than 300, according to the prime minister, so the number Mr. McKenzie gave ﾖ 25 to 30 ﾖ represents nearly a tenth of the islandﾴs population.
Mr. McKenzie also explained that the only real opposition to the project stemmed from some Mayaguanians who had already begun building the foundations for homes when the project was mapped out. These peoplesﾴ homes were inside the proposed boundaries of the development, and they were concerned, Mr. McKenzie said.
He explained that he had simply moved the boundary to accommodate the foundations already begun and future homes as well, all with the I-Groupﾴs blessing.
Mr. Roy said the rationale behind a “boutique hotel” he intends to have up and running in about 18 months is to show other large resort operators the potential of the island, and eventually lure them to invest in Mayaguana as well.
The developer said he also intended to have the airport, the worldﾴs longest runway, and infrastructure including electricity and telecommunications completed by that time.
All this on Mayaguana, an island said to be 24 miles across at its widest point. From one thousand feet up, itﾴs a dark green expanse broken up by occasional cerulean lakes and bays and pale cream sand. On the ground, Mayaguana looks exactly like what it is ﾖ a barely inhabited, remote island with little modern infrastructure. It is the very picture of an out island in the last century.
Together with the three major communities on Mayaguana, Abrahamﾴs Bay, Pirateﾴs Well and Betsy Bay, Prime Minister Christie and the I-Group of Boston are looking to change all that. The prime minister told the Mayaguanians that they were part owners of the development, and as such had an obligation to its success.
“You must be guaranteeing that it succeeds by the labour you provide, the prayers you offer up for it, by the manner in which you protect the equipment and the manner in which you ensure that what we say we will do, we do,” Mr. Christie said.
By Quincy Parker, Bahama Journal
