Bahamas News

The government is hoping to roll out a new immigration policy soon, after having received input from leaders of the financial services and business sectors.

It was one of the disclosures that came from Minister of State for Immigration Senator Elma Campbell, as members of the business community grilled a panel of Cabinet ministers at the Meet The Ministers Forum on Thursday sponsored by the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce.

“During the course of the year, I have had some dialogue with the financial services board and other groups and I’m happy to say that it was as result of that dialogue we were able to be more sensitized to more of the issues the general public is facing,” she said.

“In convening meetings of the immigration board subsequent to meetings with the chamber, that has helped us as we have made giant steps in formulating our immigration policy which we hope to bring to a head pretty soon.”

Officials are planning to have the policy properly documented and accessibly by the average citizen.

“I think the policy would answer many outstanding questions,” she said. “We have also spent the year focusing on ourselves, training our people all in an effort to better serve the public and while I accept that you…still feel that we are taking too long to process various your various applications, I do believe that some strides have been made and, in many cases, we have been able to abridge that time frame.”

For instance, Senator Campbell reported that the immigration department is trying to process work permits more efficiently.

In 2007, the department issued 13,413 work permits, 2,901 resident permits, 6,292 short-term permits, 75 homeowners’ cards and 369 resident spouse permits. This fiscal year, the Department of Immigration launched its electronic border protection and permits system that is expected to be fine-tuned. The system is designed to ensure that the only persons able to present and use the department’s permits and certificates would be the persons to whom they are issued.

Under the three public immigration audits conducted in New Providence, Freeport, Grand Bahama and Marsh Harbour, Abaco some 1,936 persons registered; 1,139 in New Providence, 470 in Grand Bahama, and 327 in Abaco.

As he underwent scrutiny, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette reported on the processing of e-passports has caused grave frustrations in recent months. Long lines are continued to snake outside the Bahamas Passport Office which is weighed down by a significant backlog in this high travel season.

Minister Symonette said although 170 passport applications are being accepted per day only roughly 100 passports are being produced.

“There is a backlog because if you make an appointment today you may get a date close to September,” he said.

“We take appointments every fifteen minutes every single day of the week but the problem is that every person feels as if they should come to the office now and register. If your passport has not expired you do not need to apply for a new one. If you run out of pages or your passport has been lost or destroyed or because you’re a student travelling, you can come in.”

Passport officials are hoping to be up to date with their processing load by September.

He also told chamber members that the government is moving planning to open an embassy in China.

“We will shortly be announcing the ambassador to China and that person will take up a full time post and in so doing we will be launching a Bahamian embassy in China as opposed to going through the British embassy there,” he said. “This will be a great leap forward to help business persons travelling from China to the Bahamas for business purposes. They will be able to get visas from those offices for travel.”

A well-placed senior government official told the Bahama Journal that the person tapped to be the new ambassador to China is Senator Elma Campbell following an imminent Cabinet reshuffle.

Mr. Symonette also announced that the government also plans to open diplomatic offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Brussels, Germany.

The Meet the Ministers Forum was one of the highly anticipated events on the schedule for this year’s Chamber Week. President of chamber Dionisio D’Aguilar applauded the ministers for their attendance. He said chamber officials felt it was necessary to give the business community an update on various issues.

“This gives us the ability to access the decision makers in our country because too often our members feel that access to a cabinet minister is difficult given their grueling schedules, so it is now known that at least once a year access is facilitated through this forum,” he said. “In addition, the chamber felt it was important for the ministers to be given a forum to articulate – outside the formal setting of Parliament in an extremely brief and specific way – what they have achieved over the past year and what they want to achieve in the upcoming year.”

He said the forum was “purposely positioned” to occur right after the budget debate so that members could question and enquire about the decisions that were made and discover the rationale for what is being planned.

Other cabinet ministers who attended the forum were Minister of Lands and Local Government, Sidney Collie; Minister of State for Public Utilities, Phenton Neymour; Minister of Housing and National Insurance, Kenneth Russell and Minister of Health and Social Development, Dr. Hubert Minnis.

Source: Bahama Journal

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) plans to soon restructure its rates as it prepares for privatization.

According to BTC’s Vice President for Marketing, Sales and Business Development, Marlon Johnson, starting next year, the government owned telephone company will reduce its rates, in a bid to allow thousands of its subscribers to “do more and get more value for money.”

“We recognize that we are moving into a privatized environment, a liberalized environment,” Mr. Johnson told the Bahama Journal.

“We have to ensure that the company operates and gives the kinds of incentives, features and functionality that customers expect in a privatized market.”

The road to privatize BTC has been a long one, dating as far back as the first Ingraham Administration.

It continued under the Christie Administration, which had announced that it had shaved the list of prospective buyers down to three, but in the end the administration decided that none of the offers was satisfactory.

At the end of 2003, the first attempt at privatizing BTC came to an end.

Perry Christie, who was prime minister at the time, assured that his government was still committed to the process.

Since returning to office, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has continuously renewed his government’s commitment to privatize BTC during the 2008/2009 fiscal year.

In a recent interview with the Journal, Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing revealed that the team negotiating with BlueWater Communications for the privatization of BTC had another 14 days of talks with the prospective buyers.

According to Minister Laing, members of the negotiation committee were engaging a consultant to assist them in their technical assessment of the offers.

He said that process was expected to conclude by the end of the month and that talks with BlueWater were expected to accelerate following that.

In preparation for the transition, BTC has committed itself to pumping more than $40 million into “significantly” upgrading its GSM network across the country to improve its coverage and capacity.

It’s part of the company’s plan to migrate all of its 80,000 TDMA customers in New Providence and the Family Islands to the GSM platform before the end of the year.

“We have been very, very pleased with the progress so far. About 6,000 post paid TDMA customers who have switched over to GSM have been allowed to keep their numbers. Next month, we will be introducing the same sort of number portability for prepaid customers,” Mr. Johnson said.

“Starting the end of July, the middle of August, we will begin turning down the TDMA cell sites in the Family Islands as we complete our GSM overlay in those islands.”

BTC officials are hoping that by the end of October, the company would have completed turning down the TDMA system throughout the entire country as well as its A50 mega-hertz overlay.

“This would bring our GSM on par with what has happened with the TDMA,” Mr. Johnson explained.

BTC recently introduced additional minutes with the purchase of phone cards valued at $20 phone cards.

“We realize that times are hard and so we wanted to do more for our customers. We want to reward those who spend more to get more,” Mr. Johnson said.

“…Towards the end of the summer, we are going to introduce for all our post-paid GSM customers, the MMS, which allows you to send picture to picture on cell phones and browse the Internet.”

Source: Bahama Journal

Nearly eight months after handbag designer Harl Taylor was murdered at his West Hill Street home, police on Thursday released a picture of the man wanted in connection with the crime.

The suspect is identified as Troynicko McNeil, 22. His last known address is Kennedy Subdivision, police said.

Police gave no further information about McNeil.

The discovery of Mr. Taylor’s body last November came two days after College of The Bahamas Dean Dr. Thaddeus McDonald was found beaten to death in his home on Queen Street, a stone’s throw away from West Hill Street.

Mr. Taylor was famous for his luxury designer handbags, but was also skilled at interior decorating. His handbags have made it in the closets of many celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey and Elle McPherson.

His murder was one of 79 recorded in the Bahamas in 2007.

Source: Bahama Journal

The Bahamas Football Association senior men’s National team left the capital on Friday in route to Kingston Jamaica for the second round of qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

In the first round, the Bahamas advanced over the British Virgin Islands after a double draw. In game one the score was 1-1 which was a home game and in game two the score was 2-2 which was an away game.

According to BFA General Secretary Lionel Haven, the away game had more importance and the Bahamas was able to force a draw resulting in the team advancing.

The team is under the direction of Technical Director Neider Dos Santos, and they will be looking to upset Jamaica on their home soil.

Dos Santos said he expects a serious challenge from Jamaica, but noted that in football anything is possible.

“Jamaica had three scrimmage games and lost one of the games to Grenada 2-1, which shows that they are beatable.”

“We however did not play in any scrimmage games, but our team is ready and prepared to play against Jamaica”, said Dos Santos.

The team will play the first match tomorrow (Sunday) in Kingston and on Wednesday in Trelawney for the second match.

He said both games are of high importance to the team’s advancement into the third round of qualifying.

Source: Bahama Journal

Baha Mar Resorts Ltd. has introduced the Seawater District Cooling Program, a new initiative that proposes to provide environmentally-responsible energy solutions for the Cable Beach area.

Representatives of the company recently met with the National Energy Policy Committee, which under the leadership of Phenton Neymour, minister of state for Public Works, is mandated to provide a National Energy Policy for The Bahamas. Under that policy, the focus would be on Renewable Energy Technologies.

During the meeting Baha Mar officials outlined to members of the committee the program’s various energy-efficient and cost-effective measures on power, water and air conditioning systems for their properties on Cable Beach, it was reported.

Benefits for Baha Mar and the wider Cable Beach area include:

– Reduced demand for electrical power generation capacity by The Bahamas Electricity Corporation

– Potential energy savings in excess of 90 percent compared to conventional air conditioning

– 25,000 MWhr per year electricity usage decrease

– Displacement of over 43,000 barrels of oil and 21,000 tons of carbon emissions per year

– Increased fuel flexibility and energy security

– Stable utility costs

The new program will use “green” technology and renewable resources to provide air conditioning on a large scale, thus helping to reduce the impact on global warming.

“Baha Mar believes whole-heartedly in doing its part to protect and preserve the environment for today’s and future generations,” said John Pagano, president, Baha Mar Development Company. “We have a unique opportunity to bring about important and positive change that will lead to more efficient use of energy and cost savings, and are fully committed to continuing in these efforts as we go forward.”

The Seawater District Cooling program is part of Baha Mar’s on-going efforts and commitment to the local environment and the community it serves.

Source: Bahama Journal

The government hopes to boost its revenue collection this upcoming budgetary year by hiking the price of work permit fees; funds that will be poured into training Bahamians.

Come July 1, work permit fees, which ranged between $10,000 per annum at scale 1 will increase to $12,500 per annum.

As it stands, work permit fees for labourers brought in at scales 10 through 12 – gardeners, housemaids, etc - are now pegged at $650. Registered farm labourers pay a reduced fee of $350.

According to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, work permits for labourers in scale 8 will now be hiked to $1,000.

As far as the government is concerned, the hike in work permit fees would translate into the country reducing its dependence on foreigners.

“The Free National Movement has always believed that Bahamians ought to be given preferential treatment as regards employment in our country so long as they are suitable and qualified for the employment contemplated,” the Prime Minister said while leading off debate on the 2008/2009 budget in the House of Assembly Wednesday.

“We also accept that there are occasions when special skills and expertise may not be available or not available in sufficient numbers to meet the requirements of our economy.”

Mr. Ingraham said in such cases work permits ought to be granted in a clear and transparent way and at a fee to cover the cost of the application process and to contribute toward the government’s revenue.

During its first term in office back in 1993, the Ingraham administration increased immigration fees by 50 percent in some scales. Those fees were again increased in 1999.

“Having not been increased during the tenure of our predecessors in office, it has been left for us to once again increase immigration fees,” the Prime Minister reasoned.

An increase in immigration fees is not the only hike reflected in the 2008/2009 fiscal plan.

The 12-month roadmap also provides for an increase in domestic bank license fees for the eight banks licensed to offer banking services here.

Those banks include Royal Bank of Canada, Scotia Bank, First Caribbean, Commonwealth Bank, Bank of The Bahamas, Fidelity Bank and Citibank.

“These fees which ranged between $250,000 and $750,000 annually have been increased to a range of $300,000 to $2.5 million annually,” the Prime Minister revealed.

The Prime Minister, who is also Minister of Finance is expected to expand on the issue – along with Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing – as debate continues today in the House of Assembly.

Source: Bahama Journal

The Ministry of Tourism has reviewed its plans for the upcoming fiscal year and now intends to be as visible as possible in the European market.

Director General of Tourism, Vernice Walkine told the Bahama Journal that officials plan to continue capitalizing on that market’s “good” growth.

“What we have been doing is out of home advertising like the tube stations in London and we’re going to do more of that,” Ms. Walkine said.

“…The European market – United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France and Spain – have been responding to our messages and so we need to continue to do that.”

According to the director general, a new non-stop airlift will be coming out of France to The Bahamas towards the end of the year, leaving tourism executives “very excited.”

“We are also working on new airlift out of Germany into Nassau and Grand Bahama. You’ll learn more about that as negotiations continue. We recognize that there are tremendous opportunities for us,” she said.

Janice Antonson, vice president of marketing for the Nassau Airport Development (NAD) Company told the Journal that destinations like the UK, Germany and Holland are NAD’s next “target areas” since Linding Pindling International Airport [LPIA] currently has only one carrier - British Airways - servicing the European market. British Airways flies into London.

With the U.S. dollar still quite weak against both the pound and the euro, tourism officials are banking on the fact that Europeans would have more spending power in The Bahamas.

Tourism research has shown that in terms of visitors’ stay, Americans stay an average of four days, Canadians around six to seven days and the Europeans 10 to 11 days.

Tourism officials estimate that stopover visitors spend an average $1,150 per visit.

Zooming in on the ministry’s efforts in the Family Islands, Ms. Walkine said in the first quarter, the Family Islands did “fairly well” with the exception of Exuma that has suffered some softness in its economy.

“We’re working to correct this by pushing the Delta airline service into George Town, Exuma. And so, there are some things we can and will do to try and sort of mitigate the losses that might have occurred there,” Ms. Walkine said.

“Grand Bahama stands to benefit dramatically from Norwegian cruise calls and that’s very good news because their passengers tend to spend more than the average cruise passenger.”

But tourism officials have stressed that the idea is not to promote one destination to the detriment of the others. According to Ms. Walkine, the goal is to promote them all.

“Having said that, the Family Islands are not all equal,” she said.

“We have a disproportionate share of rooms here in Nassau and Paradise Island where most of the people are employed. So we have to make sure that Nassau/ Paradise Island sustains itself even as we seek to drive increased numbers to Grand Bahama and the Family Islands.”

While presenting the 2008/2009 budget in the House of Assembly last Wednesday, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham noted that in light of the current global economic environment and significant competitiveness in the tourism sector, the government has increased its budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Tourism by an additional $9.3 million.

“We believe that this increase combined with strategic spending by the Ministry will go a long way in helping to increase the promotion of tourism over the next 12 months,” Mr. Ingraham said.

Tourism Minister Neko Grant is expected to expand on the issue when debate on the new budget begins in the House of Assembly on Wednesday.

Source: Bahama Journal

Education officials have completed the latest draft of a new strategic plan for education, saying the government will over the next 10 years establish a national lottery to fund education in The Bahamas.

“The bulk of monies in education’s budget is allotted to personal emoluments,” the plan says.

“This trend will continue as it reflects the need to reward our human resources with the salaries they deserve for the import duties performed. However, for the education system to improve on a consistent basis, efforts must be made to seek legitimate and creative sources of funding which will be needed for the construction of educational facilities, the further development of instructional programmes and the purchase of tuition supplies.”

Education officials also say the government will address funding issues in education by working closely with CARICOM countries to address common education challenges, thereby reducing costs.

It also says the government will mandate school districts to support and co-ordinate the development of school programmes for profit; build a profit-making, multi purpose conference centre to host very large public and private events and implement systems of financial accountability at the school and district levels among other things.

The proposed education plan notes that over the years the school system has seen a decline in the number of qualified Bahamians entering the teaching profession. It says this has contributed to undesirable increases in student-teacher ratios in certain school districts.

As part of addressing this problem, the plan says the government will provide scarcity allowance for teachers in subjects where the supply is limited; ensure that no more than 10 percent of teachers are teaching outside their fields; compensate teachers for production of indigenous learning materials and quality educational research; review and revamp the career path system for public school teachers and provide full scholarships to outstanding students enrolled in the School of Education at the College of The Bahamas.

The plan would mandate that all students receive instruction in Bahamian history, heritage and current affairs. Education officials also plan to form subject based curriculum advisory councils, comprising teachers, students, ministry officials and other key stakeholders to provide guidance and support for the curriculum revision process.

The plan also commits to outfitting all secondary schools with cafeterias and auditoriums, and expanding the role of school boards in the maintenance of schools.

“Large class sizes, new housing developments, the cessation of social promotion and specialized instructional programmes will continue to create the need for additional classroom space and construction of new schools,” the document says.

“Moreover, there are many government school buildings which, as a result of age and neglect, are in a state of disrepair. Consequently, there is a need for the government to implement a systematic classroom expansion and school construction plan.”

The proposed education plan also addresses the issue of school violence.

“Unfortunately, over the last three years, some schools have become unsafe and the well-being of many students and teachers has been threatened,” it says.

“This has negatively affected the teaching/learning process, interpersonal relations and overall school climate. In order to reverse this trend all stakeholders must be committed to fostering a culture of peace. Therefore, over the next 10 years, greater efforts will be made to mobilize all the necessary resources to create safe schools.”

The plan says the government will install closed circuit TV systems in secondary schools; review policies on suspension and expulsion; further develop alternative educational and training programmes for at-risk students; establish safety protocols at all education facilities and improve pre and in-service training for security personnel.

The plan also targets the reduction of school sizes to a maximum of 800 students at the primary level and 1,000 students at the secondary level.

Additionally, it focuses on developing civic responsibility and a strong work ethic among students.

Source: Bahama Journal