Prime Minister Perry Christie reiterated in Grand Bahama on Thursday that his government will not be held hostage as it regards the continued closure of the Royal Oasis Resort, and he indicated again that he was hopeful that the matter will be resolved soon.
But the prime minister was unable to provide any specifics regarding the future of the resort, which has been closed since September 2004 after it was damaged in Hurricane Frances.
Mr. Christie, who was speaking during an urban renewal programme event, turned his attention to the Royal Oasis matter.
“I do not propose to be hostage to circumstances where people as they are lawfully entitled to do, exercise their best interest, which does not necessarily coincide with the best interest of our country and Grand Bahama to lead myself and my government hostage to those circumstances,” Prime Minister Christie said
Speaking at the Hilton Outten Convention Centre, he said, “The Royal Oasis is a matter that exercises every degree of attention from the government.”
He indicated that the government plans to soon meet again with the owners of the resort.
“Applications are being considered and I believe it’s fair for me to say, if the people who have to sell cannot find a purchaser to present to us when we meet shortly then the government would be faced with having to exercise another option,” the prime minister said.
However, he did not say what the option would be although he said last year that the government would be willing to purchase the property itself.
“I am very optimistic based on all that I have seen, that I have confirmed the meeting date is set and the people are coming here to meet with me to review and decide upon who should buy it,” Prime Minister Christie said on Thursday.
But it remains unclear whether a resolution would in fact come any time in the immediate future as government officials have been hopeful about a sale of the property for more than a year now, but nothing has yet materialized.
Several weeks ago, Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe told The Bahama Journal there were “very generous offers” that had been made by prospective buyers.
“We believe that they bring what we want to Grand Bahama, the brand name,” he said. “We believe they can bring the exposure.”
He indicated at the time that there were two serious buyers – one from the United States and the other from Latin America – lined up to purchase the resort, while there were also a number of other significant offers.
More than 1,000 people lost their jobs after the property was closed, creating widespread concern on the island.
A year ago, the government paid out $5 million in severance payments for the displaced workers and promised to go after the owners of the property to get the taxpayers’ money back.
Prime Minister Christie said on Thursday that he still expects the reimbursement.
“The first position I had negotiated and satisfied myself upon was that the government would be reimbursed the monies that was advanced by way of redundancy payments and that the balance of the redundancy payments would be paid,” he said.
“Once I positioned the government to guarantee those things, the next stage was to get the property purchased, to have a purchaser with the capacity and interest to develop as quickly as possible that property and if possible to have that impact the refurbishment and renovation of all the surrounding economic units in that area.”
By: Daphne McIntosh, The Bahama Journal
