By Kendea Jones
Accountant Raymond Winder (Journal file photo)
A leading accountant said Bahamians have no need to fear the large amount of Chinese labour proposed to come to The Bahamas to assist in the construction of Baha Mar 's $2.6 billion development on Cable Beach.
Many Bahamians have expressed their concerns about the possibility of 5,000 Chinese workers coming to New Providence to work on Baha Mar.
This came after Baha Mar concluded all of the necessary agreements with the Export-Import Bank of China as well as the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).
According to accountant Raymond Winder of Deloitte and Touche, the deal is one of the best things that has ever happened to The Bahamas.
"I think when you look at a project that is the size of Baha Mar, even with 5,000 Chinese workers for a four-month period, that to me is not a detriment or something that should be used to not continue with the project. During that four months where they are using Chinese, the Bahamian component will also be the highest it has ever been at that point," he said while appearing on the Love97/JCN programme Jones and Company.
"When I met with investors, I was told that they would be spending $50 million a month during the four months that they would have 5,000 Chinese here."
Mr. Winder also said it would be impossible for Bahamians to complete the project on their own.
"One of the problems that The Bahamas has is that it doesn’t have a workforce that we can be proud of. I don’t think that there are many Bahamian construction companies that are building Bahamian homes that don’t have at least one immigrant as a part of their labour team. We don’t have sufficient Bahamians to build Bahamian homes.
How can we expect to be in project of that size without foreign labour," he questioned.
The accountant also said he believes that China is the only country in the world that can get the project done in a reasonable timeframe and pump millions of dollars in the tourism industry.
"Baha Mar has gone through great lengths to ensure that the lay-out also meets the Chinese demands to attract Chinese. While the rest of the world was going through a recession in the past two years, the nation that was spending the most to travel was China. The country in the world that is generating more wealth is China. Atlantis is a family destination, this project will be an adult project and it will also hopefully cater to those in the Far East," he said.
Mr. Winder also made the point that many Bahamians would have been disappointed with the project had Baha Mar stayed joint-venture partners with Harrah’s Entertainment.
The casino-giant pulled away from the development deal in 2008.
"If we had continued with that original deal, we would have ran into the possibility of having an unfinished project with no means of financing it, which would have been just painful," he said.
"One of the reasons why Harrah’s pulled out because they knew it was going to be a financial obligation that was going to weigh down on their balance sheet."
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said recently that he would have never supported the Baha Mar deal.
He added that a decision on the approval of 5,000 Chinese workers would have to be taken to Parliament before the project could proceed.
The Chinese workers to develop the West Bay Street corridor and Baha Mar's commercial village would have to find agreement from the Opposition.
Mr. Winder said he would warn investors before they invest in The Bahamas during this economic climate.
"I would say make sure that you do your proposal as to how you are going to generate the kinds of returns for that investment," he said. "I would say to check it once, twice and three times because it is not like how it was before when one just made an investment and then hoped for a return. I think you have to be very, very careful. These are tedious times and you can find yourself having utilized whatever funds you’ve borrowed and your personal funds in a very short time and not get the kind of returns you want."
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