Friday, February 19, 2010

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No better time than now Is it sheer stubbornness or is there a good reason why government has not seen the wisdom during these tough economic times of giving the go-ahead to two ventures that most certainly could have a positive impact on The Bahamas' economy? There surely is no better time than now, when all indications are that the economy of The Bahamas will remain in poor health for an indeterminate period of time, for the government to give final approval to one of the companies seeking permission to build an LNG pipeline between The Bahamas and Florida. Likewise, there is no sensible reason why the government still insists on allowing imaginary concerns about a backlash from a group of religious leaders to stop it from introducing a legal lottery in the country. Let's deal with the LNG issue first. During the Free National Movement's first tenure as the government, it granted approval in principle for energy giant Enron to construct a pipeline originating in Freeport, Grand Bahama; however, the FNM was defeated by the PLP in the May 2002 general election. Enron subsequently filed for bankruptcy, and during the bankruptcy process, Tractebel North America bought the assets of the proposed LNG Calypso project that had already been approved by the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA). Although it had approval in principle from the FNM government, rather than seek to move ahead on the basis of that agreement when the PLP came to power, Tractebel decided to submit a new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to the new Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government, headed by Prime Minister Perry Christie. The PLP government, however, ignored the Tractebel proposal, but indicated that it would approve the proposal of AES, the Virginia-based energy giant, which planned to construct a pipeline from Ocean Cay, a man-made island off Bimini. The final go-ahead, however, was not given to AES prior to the PLP's defeat in the 2007 general elections. It is quite possible that the current FNM administration, headed by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, has changed its mind about whether an LNG project is good for The Bahamas. If it has not, then it should let the Bahamian people know why it refuses to follow through with the intention of the PLP government to give final approval to AES. Of course, there is a school of thought that Tractebel's proposal for its pipeline to originate out of Freeport should have been given preference by the PLP, given the fact that Freeport is considered to be the industrial capital of The Bahamas. Meanwhile, introducing a legal lottery would likewise breathe some life into The Bahamas' stagnant economy. An official of the government who has the influence to convince his colleagues to pass legislation legalizing the lottery needs to anonymously pay a visit to any one of the numerous "web shops" in New Providence and Grand Bahama where numbers are sold and take note of the long lines of people queued up to purchase their numbers for either early or late New York, early or late Florida, or early or late Chicago. The lines nowadays are increasingly getting longer as those persons who have probably just lost their jobs and who may not have been regular numbers buyers previously are hoping that Lady Luck will help them have a better Christmas than currently looms on the horizon. Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and just about every other country in the region that shares a similar colonial history as The Bahamas all have legalized lotteries and they are using the funds generated from them to do good things for their citizens. It is way past time for The Bahamas to follow suit. Thursday, January 21, 2010