By MINDELL SMALL, Guardian Senior Reporter

mindell@nasguard.com

A year after the approval of its construction, the Passerine Bakers Bay development in Abaco remains a sore point for the Save Guana Cay Reef Association (SGCRA), which staged fresh demonstrations against the exclusive resort and residential community.

During a fundraiser in Guana Cay on Sunday, the Association displayed huge signs on the beach to let interested buyers, tourists and visitors know how they feel about the development, which they said would lead to the "desecration of their environmental heritage."

Passerine at Abaco Limited signed a Heads of Agreement with the government on March 1, 2005 to construct the exclusive community at Great Guana Cay in the Abacos.

The approval came after many months of debate over the potential negative environmental impact that many residents felt the development would have brought to the Cay, some 140 miles north of Nassau.

In a statement to The Guardian yesterday, The Association said it was waiting for the Supreme Court in Freeport to deliver judgment in the judicial review trial recently completed.

"We asked for the Heads of Agreement to be declared null and void and illegal on the basis that Cabinet doesn't have lawful authority to make these kinds of agreements. Parliament is the only entity that can give away Crown land or treasury land," said the statement.

Mr Aubry Clarke, one of the plaintiffs, asked "Why is it that the Government can feel it is okay, to just give away over 150 acres of Crown land for free, to foreign developers who are just going to sell it for a million per acre? Why doesn't the government bless some Bahamians with this wealth?"

SGCRA has vowed to take its fight all the way to the Privy Council if necessary. The group has also argued that harmful chemicals from pesticides, used to maintain golf courses, would slowly kill the area's barrier reef - the world's third largest.

However, Prime Minister Perry Christie had indicated, that the government discussed the environmental issues with Abaco residents and ensured that the Opposition was involved in the negotiation process, particularly the two Abaco constituency representatives, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Robert Sweeting, the Member of Parliament for South Abaco.

In addition, Mr Christie explained that the developers had committed themselves to setting up a Foundation, that would be funded to protect the island's eco-wilderness. The Foundation would reportedly be a permanent eco-wilderness feature on the island. The Prime Minister also said the developers had committed to employ 200 Bahamians in construction, and a similar number on a permanent basis. Some of these employees would reportedly be included in an on-the-job training and apprenticeship programme, involving travel to the developers' overseas projects in the U.S., Hawaii and Mexico.

With an initial investment of approximately $20 million, the Passerine Partners are proposing to build the resort/residential complex, which they say will include a 75-room luxury-villa style hotel and associated amenities, a first-class 240-slip marina, an 18-hole, 585-acre championship golf course, 350 residential lots and numerous other luxury facilities.

It is estimated that more than $500 million would be invested in Great Guana Cay over a 10-year period, following the construction of the facility in 2010.