Bahamas News

An emergency landing of a Western Air plane caused passengers to be delayed at Lynden Pindling International Airport Saturday evening, according to Director of Operations at Western Air Captain Wolf Seifert.

Captain Seifert said one of the company’s aircraft, a Fairchild Metro airliner, left Mangrove Cay, Andros, en route to New Providence shortly after 4pm.

He said as the aircraft approached New Providence, the plane’s landing gear began to experience difficulties.

“Upon reaching the vicinity of Nassau in preparation for landing, the captains selected to extend the landing gear on the aircraft, but they discovered that one of the gears didn’t extend,” Captain Seifert explained. “At that point they followed all the procedures listed in the company’s manuals, contacted the air traffic controllers and declared an emergency.”

He said the captains continued to attempt to extend the landing gear, but to no avail.

At this point, Captain Seifert said the captains decided to carry out a “precautionary landing”.

“They elected to do a precautionary landing with two emergency landing gears, which they did accomplish and which was the safest maneuver in that respect,” he said. “After doing a successful landing, they evacuated immediately and prevented any injuries.”

There were 12 passengers on the 19-seat aircraft.

According to Captain Seifert, there was a slight delay of a half hour on the LPIA main runway.

“The delay was kept to a minimum,” he said. “The main runway was closed for about half an hour and that was to facilitate the emergency vehicles to cross the runway and come to where the aircraft came to a rest.”

He said the aircraft, which received no major damage, was removed from the runway around 7pm.

“No one was really hurt or anything,” Captain Seifert said. “Procedures were followed and everything came out fine.”

Source: Bahama Journal

GSM cell phone users experienced an interruption in service on Tuesday after a power surge caused the Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s system to crash.

Vice President of Marketing Marlon Johnson explained that the incident occurred shortly before 7am.

“We had a failure on our pre-paid platform that was linked to a power supply that seized a particular segment of our grid and we may have had a power surge on a particular line that tripped a series of breakers,” Mr. Johnson said. “That included the backup and redundancy supply and that set it offline.”

Services were resumed shortly after 2pm. Mr. Johnson said BTC officials faced a number of challenges.

“I think the challenge was that we had to isolate the power line and that took some time,” he said. “What we had to do is not only turn it back on but we had to rewire the system to make sure that it doesn’t collapse again.”

Mr. Johnson said BTC officials are currently working on upgrading the GSM system. He said by the end of this year all of the services pertaining to cell phones should improve.

“We want to expand both the capacity and the coverage to get inside buildings which many people have been challenged with,” he said.

“We want to upgrade it so that its service is more comfortable to what TDMA offers and we have to do so because we are decommissioning the TDMA by the end of the year,” Mr. Johnson added.

“So we recognize fully that we have to bring our GSM to a standard where persons are comfortable migrating and [to ensure] that we don’t have some of these outgoing coverage issues that persons face now.”

Mr. Johnson said the government intends to spend an estimated $40 million to upgrade the GSM system in The Bahamas.

Meantime, Mr. Johnson said the company apologizes for any inconvenience caused as a result of the GSM shutdown on Tuesday.

“We apologize significantly for what has happened and we are in discussions to find out ways in which we can compensate persons for their inconvenience,” he said. “I can’t tell you what that will mean, but we are doing all we can to get the system back up and running.”

Source: Bahama Journal

A storm is brewing in the tax industry in Florida where it appears the passage of a ballot initiative to repeal the exemption tax for shipping goods through the state is a real possibility, according to Chamber of Commerce President Dionisio D’Aguilar.

His comments came at a luncheon Wednesday that the chamber held for members of the chamber.

“Right now when you export goods from Florida to The Bahamas you do not pay a 6% sales tax,” Mr. D’Aguilar said. “The state of Florida experiencing a budgetary crisis, is looking for ways to raise revenue so they are thinking of ways to raise taxes.”

Mr. D’Aguilar said that the politicians in Florida are thinking of reversing that exemption so the goods that are shipped from Florida to the Bahamas will be charged at a 6% sales tax.

“You will have to pay duty and stamp tax on that additional 6% so this can effectively mean that the goods imported from Florida to the Bahamas will go up by 9%,” he said.

Adam Hasner, the guest speaker and deputy majority leader in the Florida House of Representatives said that there is an “affordability crisis” being experienced by Florida.

“Up to the past five years, Florida has experienced great economic growth and prosperity,” Mr. Hasner said. “But as the national real estate market started to decline, we started to experience an economic downturn.”

Mr. Hasner pointed out that rising inflation has become a major problem for Florida as well as unemployment.

“We are also experiencing a more severe real estate slump that is impacting our economy,” he said.

Mr. Hasner told those gathered that as a result of this, politicians are trying to find ways to generate different forms of revenue.

“There is a very important sales tax exemption which makes up about $4 billion of our $13 billion industry in sales tax exemption and that’s an exemption which protects from taxes being levied for export,” Mr. Hasner said.

He said for that reason it is so critical for each person that attended the luncheon to pay attention because the politicians in Florida are looking for more revenue to support services.

“They have to find that money from somewhere and that means they are looking to put every single sales tax exemption or increase on the table,” Mr. Hansen said.

Mr. Hansen also urged that Bahamian businessman monitor closely to two factors in Florida.

“The Bahamas needs to watch the Florida legislature and something called the tax and budget reform commission,” Mr. Hansen said. “Every 20 years- and this just happens to be that year- the tax and budget reform commission convenes and they are members who are not elected.”

He explained that those persons are appointed by the governor of Florida and by the presiding officers of the House of Representatives and the senate.

“They have the constitutional authority to put measures before the voters and bypass the legislature which is a tremendous amount of power,” he said. ” I’m elected by the people of Florida; these persons are not elected but they have the power of direct democracy to put a measure before the voters for their approval.”

Mr. Hasner is himself against the tax coming into effect because of the potential for major loss in business from the Bahamas. He did urge others to join the lobby against it as well.

Source: Bahama Journal

A Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) official has released details of the acts of sabotage the company believes are connected to last week’s industrial action.

In a statement issued yesterday, BTC said at least five acts of sabotage took place.

BTC Vice President of Marketing Marlon Johnson said while the company has no hard evidence to prove that any worker sabotaged anything, it is suspected because of timing.

“What we had are some cabinets that house the components in the neighborhoods where all the telephone lines link up. It’s where the telephone lines meet for distribution into the main feeder area,” he said.

“In cabinets in certain neighborhoods like Marshall Road, Muttonfish Drive, Sunshine Park, Flamingo Gardens and Cowpen Road…we have evidence where persons actually entered into the box and damaged the cable links which shut down the residential lines and some business lines in those areas.”

Last week, members of the Networking Services Division temporarily halted work in order to have their voice heard about a number of outstanding issues the union has with the management of BTC.

BTC officials said they were baffled as to why union members took action as the proper protocols were not being followed regarding industrial discontent.

“We are aware that there are several issues that were outstanding, however, when the union feels a grievance to the point where they are conducting industrial action, there is a process by which they file that grievance at the Ministry of Labour, and to our knowledge they haven’t filed that grievance. Industrial action takes place after you have filed that grievance,” he said.

Mr. Johnson declined to say what the details of the issues were.

“These are matters of ongoing dialogue. I don’t wish to prejudice the outcome of these issues by going into the details of them, but suffice it to say, the issues as we are aware are being managed within the confines of the discussion and dialogue that we have with the union on an ongoing basis,” he said.

Mr. Johnson added that some of the issues are longstanding.

In an interview with The Bahama Journal on Tuesday, Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) President Robert Farquharson said he was shocked to hear of any illegal behaviour connected to last week’s industrial action or the union.

He said the BCPOU has been fully cooperative with BTC and denounced any acts of sabotage that may have been perpetrated on the company.

“Any attempt by BTC’s management to connect any acts of sabotage to the union is cruel and inhumane,” Mr. Farquharson said.

In the statement, BTC said the police have been called in to investigate the alleged acts of sabotage.

Source: Bahama Journal

The Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) announced on Monday that new parking rates will become effective at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) on February 1, 2008.

Along with the new rates NAD is also removing parking meters, prohibiting parking and waiting at the curbs and introducing a new short-term parking lot to accommodate persons waiting for arriving passengers.

“Over the past year we’ve spent approximately $1/2 million improving parking facilities at the airport,” said John Spinks, Vice President, Commercial Development, NAD.

“Within the last few months we’ve fixed the drainage and refurbished, paved and reconfigured the domestic/international parking lot. As a result since April parking capacity in the domestic/international lot has increased by close to 100 spaces along with improved customer service.”

He added, “We’ve also significantly reduced illegal parking, improved security and introduced a new overflow lot with shuttle bus service to both the domestic/international and U.S. terminals. The objective is to reduce chaos and increase convenience for persons who use the airport. We’re also planning further improvements and additional parking services that the public will hear about as the months go by.”

According to Mr. Spinks, the last change in parking rates occurred in 2002 and current rates are below those of other regional airports and downtown Nassau locations such as the Hilton Hotel.

As indicated, among changes that travellers can expect come February 1 are the removal of all parking meters and no tolerance for illegal parking. No parking or waiting will be allowed at the curbs, only drop-offs or pick-ups, but a new short-term parking lot will accommodate persons waiting for arriving passengers, with lower rates than current meters for the first two hours. After two hours, however, rates will increase quickly to $2 every 20 minutes so drivers should be aware of a maximum daily $30 parking fee for this lot.

The hourly rate for the both regular lots (domestic/international and U.S.) will increase from $1 to $3 after the first hour and there will be a small $1 increase in the maximum daily rate from $8 to $9. After one day, the same daily rate structure will apply for all subsequent days. For example, parking fees for 1 day and 1 hour in the regular lots would be $12 and fees for 2 days would be $18. A maximum weekly rate of $45 is also being introduced.

As for the new overflow parking lot, the rate will remain at $5 per day or part thereof. This lot will only be opened when other lots are full.

Source: Bahama Journal

The Bahamas has been rated as the top honeymoon spot in the world by internationally-renowned travel site “Expedia.com:” aside from that ranking, however, The Bahamas failed to make the top ten in any of the other lists, some of which might be surprising.

The destination beat out Barbados, Paris, St. Lucia, the Seychelles and other top destinations around the world in the honeymoon category, including New York, Reykjavik, Venice, Sardinia and Mauritius.

The rating came out of the website’s listing of “Top Tens,” in which destinations were rated in a number of categories, such as “Beach Holidays,” “Hip Hotels,” “Dream Destinations,” and “Film Set Locations,” among others.

Of The Bahamas as a honeymoon destination, Expedia was quite frank.

“Though much of The Bahamas has become built-up from its success at attracting American tourists, there are still plenty of places for seclusion,” the site reads. “Long walks on beautiful beaches and luxurious hotels make this an ideal honeymoon destination.”

In other listings it would seem natural for The Bahamas to score well in, the results were not so positive. The Bahamas was absent, for instance, from the list of the top ten beach holidays, losing out to places like Barbados, Jamaica and the French Riviera, among others.

With two world-class all-inclusives on New Providence, one might be forgiven for expecting The Bahamas to rate in a category like “Top Ten Family All-Inclusive Hotels,” but one would have been mistaken.

The Club Embarcadero Pacifico in Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) took top honours in that category, with all-inclusives in Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, the Dominican Republic and Antigua making the top ten.

And in the category of “Top Ten Dream Destinations,” the results were as scattered across the globe as could be expected, but again, The Bahamas was absent – Australia led the way, with the Amalfi Coast, Egypt, South Africa and the French Riviera all represented at the top.

Interestingly, The Caribbean was also among the top ten “dream destinations,” but no individual islands from the region were names specifically.

The Journal was unable to reach either Tourism Minister Neko Grant, State Minister for Tourism Bran McCartney or Director General of Tourism Vernice Walkine for comment.

Source: Bahama Journal

A $110-million development envisioned to be a resort and residential community with first-class amenities is planned for North Long Island.

The British-based developers of the proposed Port St. George investment, plan to use available land in the Stella Maris area for the construction of this project, which will include an 18-hole signature golf course and a marina.

Plans for the development were outlined to concerned Long Islanders at a town meeting, held at the government high school in Simms, on Tuesday.

The proposed developers also announced plans for another resort for the Stella Maris area - Caribbean Heights - which together with Port St. George will open opportunities for hundreds of jobs both during the construction and post-construction phases.

More than 400 people packed the school’s auditorium and many more listened through open doors and windows. Many questions were asked on matters such as dredging, road elevation, antiquities, solid waste and the reconfiguration of Queen’s Highway.

It appeared following the meeting that Long Islanders were satisfied that the marine resources would not be comprised. They welcomed the development, which the investors assured would have a completion date in 2015.

Ian J. Moorcroft, a director of Port St. George, said, “We are in the planning stages. We hope to get approval by next Easter.”

He told Long Islanders that the developers are hoping to break ground by the fall of 2008.

Keith A. Bishop of Islands By Design Ltd., said he had been contracted to do the environment impact assessment.

Government officials at the town meeting included Earl Deveaux, Minister of Public Works and Transport; Sidney Collie, Minister of Lands and Local Government; and Lawrence Cartwright, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources.

Also in attendance was a representative from the Bahamas Environment Science and Technology (BEST) Commission.

Minister Collie assured Long Islanders that “no significant investment” will come to the islands without the government coming directly to the people “and as clear and as concise as possible, apprise the people of the proposed investment.”

He also assured residents that “before the first soil is turned and the first brick is laid, you would know what is coming to your island and whether you welcome such investment.”

Minister Deveaux said the airport at Stella Maris is currently undergoing expansion and very soon work will begin to complete the terminal building, which will meet the International Civil Aviation standards for international security.

He said Long Island will shortly have an improved Stella Maris airport in the north to accommodate the proposed development.

Deveaux emphasized, “It is not likely we will have enough space in the north to put a 7,000-ft. runway but we will accommodate short-haul aircraft. In the partnership that we seek to develop in Long Island, if you need a longer airport we will invite you to Deadman’s Cay.”

He added that the government also intends to complete the dock in Long Island.

“It is my duty to tell you that we have selected a spot in Long Island we feel could accommodate the year-round dockage, the low maintenance of the sand movement and deep water sheltered harbor. We are looking at the area where BEC (the Bahamas Electricity Corporation) currently is so we have room for long-term expansion.

“We will go to bids as soon as the designs are completed on that dock.”

The Works Minister told Long Islanders that as a result of the recent passage of Tropical Storm Noel, “we have had to re-prioritize our road infrastructure.” He further indicated that Long Island was already high on the schedule for sea walls construction, repairs to the dock at Simms and additional infrastructure works.

In addition, he said government now has before it, a list of Family Island roads identified for repair, “so that we can make some choices in the sense that Cat Island, Long Island and Exuma had exceptionally high flooding and unexpected damage to their roads. We had to shift our priorities around so that we could accommodate repairs as a result of the flooding.”

Minister Cartwright, who is the parliamentary representative for Long Island, was pleased with the turnout at the meeting and the hard questions asked.

He thanked the investors for choosing Long Island for their proposed project.

“I believe that Port St. George will be something great for Long Island,” Cartwright stated. “And, based on what I have heard over the last few weeks and the amount of excitement this has generated, I believe Long Islanders are now ready to accept Port St. George.”

Source: Nassau Guardian

Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Chairman Allen Chastanet is predicting a future that will include higher-end vacations to the Caribbean for more Canadian visitors, based on what he referred to as Canada’s soaring dollar value.

At the end of last week, the strength of the Canadian dollar marginally surpassed that of the US dollar for the first time in 31 years.

“The Canadian dollar is going to go much further,” Mr. Chastanet said. “So instead of some of the cheaper vacations that people have been accustomed to taking in the past, you are going to find that you can get five-star, golf resort (stays) in the Caribbean.”

Mr. Chastanet, who is also the Minister of Tourism for St. Lucia, made the prediction near the end of the first Caribbean Week held by CTO in Toronto late last week.

Mr. Chastanet said the event was a good way to show off some of what the Caribbean has to offer. He said no other region has the type of diversity that the Caribbean has.

Meanwhile, he said, Caribbean leaders have already agreed to put mechanisms in place that will make tourism promotions more effective.

“We have a group of Ministers of Tourism today who have agreed to restructure CTO, restructure how we look at this Caribbean, and I promise you that we are going to give you a world class product,” he said.

“I think you are going to see many more people working together to take advantage of the uniqueness that we have.”

Mr. Chastanet said the first Caribbean Week in Toronto was only a taste of what CTO would be like in the future.

“We want to take over the city of Toronto for one week and make the Caribbean come alive,” he said. “When we work together, we can do that.”

Mr. Chastanet said the Caribbean is already seeing more air charters than at any other time from Canada. In addition, airlines are seeking to expand their scheduled services from Canada into the Caribbean, he said.

Source: Bahama Journal

All of the major Family Islands with the exception of Abaco and the Berry Islands experienced a decline in visitor arrivals in the month of June as a softening of the country’s main industry lingered, according to figures released by the Ministry of Tourism.

The continued sluggishness in arrivals was a further indication of the challenges that the country’s main industry has been facing.

Between January and June 2007, there was a 6.5 percent decline in total arrivals to The Bahamas from 2.6 million in the same period last year to 2.4 million this year.

Exclusively in the month of June, there were 369,322 tourists in total to The Bahamas which was 9.6 percent less than the total arrival last June, when 408, 501 tourists were recorded.

The softening was also referred to in a newly released report from the Central Bank of The Bahamas. In fact, analysts stated that the moderation that was reflected in economy was due - in part - to a softened tourism performance.

“Preliminary tourism data for the first six months of the year showed a continued weakness in the sector,” the report noted.

“In terms of the major components, air and sea passengers fell by 7 percent to 6.3 percent respectively.”

The most significant downturn in visitors was recorded in the Grand Bahama market, which contracted by 12 percent to .33 million, it was noted.

Similarly, arrivals to New Providence and the Family Islands decreased by 5.4 percent to 1.43 million and by 6.1 percent to .67 million respectively.

Ministry of Tourism figures showed that in June overall, air arrivals to The Bahamas were down by 8 percent, those same arrivals to Nassau/Paradise Island were down by 10 percent and Grand Bahama’s tourists who flew to the island were down by the same percentage.

Also down were air arrivals to Andros, Cat Cay, Eleuthera and Exuma which declined by three percent, 12 percent, two percent and 10 percent respectively.

On the flip side, there was increased tourist traffic in Abaco and the Berry Islands in the month of June. The former saw 15,003 visitors travel there, which was .8 percent more than the 14,878 tourists last June. For the Berry Islands, arrivals grew by 8.9 percent from 898 in June 2006 to 985 in June 2007.

Cruise arrivals in June to Nassau/Paradise Island were up by eight percent, according to the figures, with arrivals to Grand Bahama rising by four percent. However, these increases were not enough to offset the year to date declines.

Arrivals to the entire country by sea were down by 10 percent, while arrivals to the Family Islands reflected a 40 percent decrease.

Under pressure from factors like the U.S. border control measure under which passports are required and less than expected growth in regional travel, the tourism sector has been limping.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has admitted to the challenges like substantial revenue leakage and a less than ideal downtown Nassau product.

In the last two years, less than five million visitors have chosen The Bahamas as a destination, according to revised figures from the Ministry of Tourism. The five million mark had become somewhat of a benchmark for success three years ago.

Source: Bahama Journal

PANAMA CITY – As victims of Hurricane Dean slowly try to rebuild their shattered lives, the World Food Programme announced today that its emergency feeding operations are assisting about 10,500 of the worst affected in Jamaica and Belize.

“While Hurricane Dean may have vanished from the front pages of the newspapers, the reality of its destructive power remains for thousands of very poor people who must begin to put their lives back together,” said Carlo Scaramella, who is managing WFP’s regional response to Belize. “WFP’s emergency food rations are a key first step that will ensure these people can begin the process of rebuilding.”

In Jamaica, a total of 5,500 people will receive complementary food assistance which will consist of a 450 kcal ration per day of High-Energy Biscuits (HEBs) for two weeks. The victims are part of more than 30,000 people whose livelihoods have been affected when 200 km/h winds damaged housing, infrastructure and crops in the southern and south-eastern part of the island.

An additional 5,000 people in Belize will receive a full daily ration which will continue for a period of two months and which will consist of rice, pulses, vegetable oil, and HEBs. All of the beneficiaries suffered a dramatic loss in their livelihoods means.

The cost of the emergency response is US$256,131 which will be paid out of WFP’s Immediate Response Account – a special revolving fund that WFP can draw on to provide a swift response to emergencies without having to wait for donor contributions.

In both cases, preparation before the storm and prompt action afterwards by WFP regional emergency team enabled supplies flow quickly to those affected. A critical role in the response was played by WFP’s Regional Centre for Humanitarian Response, recently established in El Salvador, where food and other equipment supplies are stored. For Jamaica the response was coordinated through the WFP Caribbean emergency hub in Barbados with crucial support from the WFP Country Office in Haiti.

“What has been extremely important is that at the regional level today we have in place an emergency response team as well as emergency food supplies that we can deploy at a moment’s notice,” said WFP Deputy Regional Director Gordana Jerger.

“Given that the region faces a future of weather-related disasters whose intensity and number may well increase in number and intensity, the role of our sub-regional centres will become even more critical to saving lives and ensuring a swift humanitarian response,” Jerger added.

Source: Nassau Guardian