NASSAU, Bahamas – The Bahamas Government Is Predicting That At Least 3,000 New Jobs Will Be Created Here Over The Next Three Years As A Result Of An Estimated Six Billion Dollars In Investments Over The Same Period.
Deputy Prime Minister, Chester Cooper (File Photo)“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 Are Able To Sustain Development Growth, We’re Seeing Investments In Tourism And In 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, The One Thing I Think We Agree On Is That The Fastest Way To Get The Economy Going Is Really 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 Been Already Been Approved.
“I Did An Assessment On Exuma Recently; In The Region Of 500 To 600 New Jobs Will Be Created In Exuma As A Result Of 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 Per Cent.
“I Don’t Have Those Numbers In Front Of Me, But I Think It Will Be Fairly Dramatic If We’re Able To 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 As A Result.
“They Are In Various Stages. But Construction Work Has Begun In Many Of These Projects Already, So One Of The Things That We’re Doing At Bahamas Investment Authority Is Working With The Multi-Agency Group To Help To 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 Agencies Of The Government,” Cooper Said, Adding That Investment Projects Are Being Rolled Out All Across The Country.
“Eleuthera Is Very Popular. Abaco Has Been Extremely Popular With A Large [Amount Of] Rebuild Or Acquiring Existing Properties [That Are] Being Refurbished. There Are Significant Interests As Well In Grand Bahama With Announced Projects That [Are] Not Yet Underway In Terms Of Shovel In The Ground.
“There’s Another Major Project In The West Of Grand Bahama That’s Been Approved. I Believe That’s In The Region Of US$300 Million. There’s Significant Interest, As I’ve Said Before, In The Grand Lucayan Resort.
“We Have $200 Million Being Invested In The Carnival Cruise Port And There’s Significant Construction Already Underway There In Grand Bahama. There Are Some Other Announcements That Are Going To Be Coming Shortly For Grand Bahama.”
The Deputy Prime Minister Said That He Was Also A Strong Supporters Of Nationals Investing In The Local Economy , Saying “You Know, My Background In Business Has Been A Life Of Encouraging People To Save And Investment, 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 Largest Investments In Tourism Have Come From Foreigners.
“So I Think It Goes Without Saying That 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.
