TourismToday

Courtesy of The Tribune

The inclusion of the “big ticket item” Baha Mar convention centre among the projects that will be built by Bahamian contractors will create a “lot of spin-off” locally, the Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president said yesterday, estimating the contract would be worth $60-$80 million.

Stephen Wrinkle told Tribune Business that with the $2.6 billion Cable Beach redevelopment set to feature 200,000 square feet of meeting space, including a central convention facility, the latter construction was likely to be worth more than the $55 million contract awarded by Kerzner International for its Phase III convention centre.

Adding that the Government had ensured “everyone has skin in the game” when it came to Bahamian involvement in Baha Mar’s construction, Mr Wrinkle said the convention centre “has been discussed as a big ticket item”.

Expected to be larger than Atlantis’ conference centre, for which a $55 million contract was signed in 2005, Mr Wrinkle suggested the value of this project alone could amount to between $60 and $80 million and employ “hundreds” of Bahamians.

“That alone is very significant, and there’ll be a lot of spin-off from that,” said Mr Wrinkle.
The BCA president praised the Government for “mandating” the increase in Bahamian participation in the construction work, telling Tribune Business that without this having taken place he would not be so optimistic about a successful outcome for the proposed skills programme.

“It means that everyone’s got skin in the game. We would be hard pressed to see this level of participation without that, so it’s a significant step forward that the Gvernment made when they mandated that a substantial percentage of the work would go to Bahamian contractors.
“That previously never happened, and it’s one of reasons that most training programmes have faltered,” suggested Mr Wrinkle.

Addressing the House of Assembly yesterday, Prime Minister Huberty Ingraham described for the first time some of the ‘core project’ work that Bahamian contractors and sub-contractors will be offered the opportunity to bid upon during the life of the Cable Beach redevelopment project.

Negotiate
Whereas Bahamians were previously only to work on the “non-core” components of the project, Mr Ingraham highlighted the fact that his government was able to last year negotiate a further $200 million of contract work to go to Bahamian construction firms, bringing the total value of work to go to Bahamians to $400 million – the largest amount ever in a single development in the Bahamas.

He said his government is “satisfied” work will be apportioned between “large, medium, small scale and individual Bahamian contractors”.

Mr Ingraham said that “prime core project packages to be made available to Bahamian contractors’ bidding will include, but not necessarily be limited to”, core project site work (for example, demolition of existing buildings, underground utilities, parking lots and earth works); the Baha Mar convention centre and Hyatt Timeshare Villas; (structure, masonry, mechanical and electrical, drywall, tile and finishes, for example) and 24 “free standing buildings within the core project”, including restaurants, retail shops, bars and pool restrooms.

Work on these “free standing buildings” will extend to “full scope (work), including structural, masonry or envelopes, full interior fit-out, mechanical, electrical and plumbing”, said Mr Ingraham.

Landscape and irrigation work, “which is substantial”, said Mr Ingraham, will be bid to Bahamian contractors, as will “site wide concrete, pavers, specialty walks and pool decks”.
Inside the hotel towers, “numerous restaurants and retail shops” will be made available for bid by Bahamian general and sub-contractors for “fit out, including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, kitchens and full finishes”, added the Prime Minister.

“This is in keeping with my government’s commitment to the deepening and broadening of economic opportunities for all Bahamians,” said Mr Ingraham, reiterating statements previously made by Mr Wrinkle than “as many as 4,500″ Bahamians may end up being engaged in the enormous construction project.

Mr Wrinkle, who as president of the BCA has previously expressed the organisation’s “elation” that the amount of work to be contracted to Bahamians would be expanded from $200 million to $400 million, said the projects outlined by the Prime Minister during his address to Parliament are “in keeping with what we had discussed”.
He said it was expected that most of the work described by the Prime Minister would begin to become available from 2012 onwards, rather than this year.
Some $2 million of $8 million dollars earmarked for training programs for Bahamian workers under the Baha Mar project is anticipated to go towards training of construction workers, funding a program which the Mr Wrinkle expects to be “the most successful private-public training initiative that has ever been undertaken in this country or the Caribbean”.

Training
He said yesterday that Baha Mar had appointed a training program liaison officer within its management team, and the BCA is confident that the company “are working as hard as they can” to get the training initiative up and running in conjunction with the BCA, the Bahamas Technical Vocational Institute (BTVI) and the Department of Labour.

“We are well aware that work is moving forward on this initiative,” said Mr Wrinkle of the skills program. He noted that meetings have taken place between the BCA, Baha Mar and BTVI, but not yet with the Department of Labour.

The next step, he said, will be for the stakeholders to “meet as a committee to determine the direction the training will take”.

A key element of moving ahead successfully is identifying the schedule of works to be undertaken to ensure that training is geared towards “delivering results that are beneficial” to the contractors who will be undertaking the works, said Mr Wrinkle.

“Training has to be specifically targeted towards the type of work that will be available on the Baha Mar project, with a view to maximising who can be employed,” he added.

“There will be a lot of concrete work to begin with. Then, as the project proceeds, we will need people trained in roofing and glazing, and then as it moves forward there will be the interior fit out, hanging doors and installing fixtures. We are supposed to identify those items as per Baha Mar’s construction schedule, and prepare the trainees to enter the project. We need to be at least 90 days ahead of their schedule,” said Mr Wrinkle.

Mr Ingraham noted in his address that Baha Mar and its general contractor, China State Construction and Engineering Corporation, have agreed to “an extensive and comprehensive training and retraining programme for Bahamian workers”.

The program will cover training for both construction and hospitality workers, with the amended heads of agreement providing that Baha Mar will establish a permanent “Training and Service Academy” to provide extensive training prior to the opening of the new hotels and amenities for those who will be employed during its operation. Training of hospitality workers will commence 24 months before the scheduled opening of the new hotels.

Mr Wrinkle said the BCA forwarded a proposal to the Prime Minister’s office last year “which outlined a training program in the neighbourhood of $2 million” for construction workers as part of the overall skills training initiative.

He said that while no formal response has been received from the Government, it is the industry’s “understanding” that $2 million of the $8 million outlined to be made available for both construction and hospitality worker training will go to the construction/engineering/maintenance sector training initiative.