‘Pie In The Sky’

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government was yesterday urged to deal with the “thousands of Bahamians” awaiting answers to Crown Land applications before handing 10,000 acres to the Chinese, a well-known QC describing the Andros proposal as “pie in the sky”.

Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, told Tribune Business that the Government needed to prioritise Bahamian interests over foreign when it came to Crown Land grants or leases.

He was responding after it was revealed that the Bahamas’ embassy in Beijing is pursuing a $2.1 billion Chinese agricultural and fisheries investment that would require the leasing of 10,000 Crown Land acres in Andros.

This could double to 20,000 acres if the 100 companies involved in the proposal, which has yet to be firmed up and submitted for government approval, hit certain performance benchmarks.

There is no certainty that Chinese government investment, or investors, will be forthcoming, or that any government approval is forthcoming, but Mr Smith said yesterday: “I would be absolutely opposed to any such pie in the sky project.”

He suggested the proposal provided further evidence of how successive governments had placed ‘the cart before the horse’, particularly when it came to land use planning.

Pointing out that the current Planning and Subdivisions Act required the development of a Land Use Plan for each Bahamian island, with specific areas set aside for defined uses, Mr Smith said nothing had been done - not even consultations with local communities.

He also pointed out that Crown Land leases, such as that proposed by the Beijing embassy, had to be approved by Parliament under the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act.

And consultation with the relevant local government authorities and district councils was also required on matters of Crown Land grants/leases by the Local Government Act.

“In addition, Bahamians should be getting their own land before the Chinese,” Mr Smith told Tribune Business. “Notwithstanding any suggestion of a 50/50 ownership concept, he who controls the money controls the venture.”

That is a reference to the embassy’s proposal that the $2.1 billion project be a 50/50 joint venture between the Chinese and Bahamians, albeit with the former providing all the financing, expertise and equipment.

Mr Smith, meanwhile, questioned why the Government appeared to be giving priority treatment to the Chinese when hundreds of Bahamians had either been denied, or heard nothing on, requests for Crown Land conveyancings and leases.

“There are thousands of Crown Land applications that have gone unanswered, and the non-governmental organisation called Crown Land for Bahamians has encouraged people to agitate on this issue,” he told Tribune Business.

“Before offering thousands of acres of Crown Land to the Chinese in an area as environmentally sensitive and unique as Andros, we should have the Prime Minister, who is responsible for Crown Land, pay attention to the very thousands of Bahamian applications that are waiting.”

#Crown Land grants, and leases, and the terms for such have often been used as a political tool by various administrations in the absence of laws and policies to guide how it is disbursed.

The Bahamas’ has a relatively small supply of remaining land, and combined with the fact that the Government is the largest landowner, this means Crown Land assumes vital importance in fostering social cohesion, development, wealth creation by Bahamians and economic growth.

However, the lack of transparency surrounding how it is conveyed/leased, and to whom, continues to hold the Bahamas back.

Branville McCartney, the Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader, yesterday called for the creation of a Land Bureau to deal with all Crown Land matters, and to take the issue out of the hands of future prime ministers.

“When have you last seen the Government make available 10,000 acres to Bahamians or Bahamian entities,” he asked Tribune Business.

“The only access you have to Crown Land is through the Prime Minister. We, the DNA, have said that the method of getting Crown Land must be taken out of the Office of the Prime Minister and put in some office or entity so that one man does not have the final say.

“We have said that there ought to be a Land Bureau that divides Crown Land into residential, commercial and industrial uses for the benefits of Bahamians.

“Land is wealth. We want to be in a position to make Bahamians wealthy, and not the Chinese or anybody else.”