Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Fred Mitchell responded to a statement released by the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) rejecting claims by the government that it owes over $300 million.
Mitchell, who has been vocal about the GBPA not living up to its obligations to the city of Freeport, spoke with ZNS News on the issue. He said, “we are on a simple point. Do you owe us for services that are provided by the government to the city? If the answer is yes, here is the bill.”
The Minister says that the GBPA’s comparison of the city of Freeport’s tax contributions versus the amount the government invests in Freeport is like comparing apples and oranges. “This is about a claim for the services provided to the city. This is not about taxes and this is not about investment. Right now, if they want to talk about investment, its going to take $250 million to put that airport back together which they walked away from. It’s going to take another $200 million to build a new hospital which they walked away from, so let’s not get into that and tax revenue. This is about they signed a deal in 1955 or the subsequent deals in 1960 to say that they would reimburse the government for the services provided by the government to the city.”
Mitchell added that this latest move by the government in its relations with the GBPA is not political. He said, “it’s interesting that they have chosen to go public with this fight rather than simply have their lawyers look at the bill and say okay, we don’t think that this is something that’s owed or we do think that it’s owed and can we sue for terms. Either we pay in installments or we don’t pay or whatever it is. But they’ve immediately gone to no and said we ain’t paying a penny, we don’t owe you nothing.”
He also noted that the government’s demand for payment is in the best interest of Grand Bahamians.
