The island expects to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in tourist business after the July 4th US Independence weekend was turned into a disaster by four days of outages.
Angry tourists sweltering in high temoperatures with no air-conditioning, no television, no water and not even ice for their drinks were demanding their money back and threatening never to return.
Now resort owners plan to approach Prime Minister Perry Christie to seek urgent action following what they termed “poor, irresponsible planning by BEC.”
Last night Craig Roberts, who owns the Bahama Beach Club, said, “This was the first time for months that resorts have had full occupancy and BEC dropped the ball. They were like the Keystone Kops, totally unprepared.
“We’ve had constant power cuts for several days now. Guests paying $300 or $400 a night are left with no AC, no TV, no water… they are asking for their money back and saying they will never return.”
He said the July 4th weekend, traditionally the busiest of the year, was completely ruined by the cuts, which BEC initially blamed on a lightning strike on a transformer.
However, resort owners claim the real reason is poor maintenance of equipment , which has left only five or six of 15 generators in operation. Mr. Roberts had been told by BEC staff that machines were “cannibalised” to repair other equipment, but new parts were never ordered.
As an investor it makes me very nervous,” said Mr. Roberts, “Already, as a result of this, I have lost two condo sales which I was about to complete. the prospective buyers said why would they want to buy condos in a place where there was no power. I have to admit they have a point.”
Source: The Tribune
