Guana Cay Controversy

Guana Cay is internationally recognized as a unique marine and land environment and boasts one of the most picturesque and pristine traditional old Bahamian communities in the Abacos. Story does not represent the views of BOL editors & webmaster

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Despite this, in February 2005 the PLP Cabinet, under the direction of PM Perry Christie, and after years of secret planning and negotiations with developers, and following its now disgraced Anchor Project policy, dictatorially and without consultation with the residents of Guana cay, signed a Heads of Agreement with Bakers Bay, a foreign real estate developer, to allow a tax free $500,000,000 hotel, residential, golfing and the largest marina project in the Bahamas.

Press Meeting.

Since then the residents of Guana Cay mounted and continue to fight for their rights. They believe that the golf course will destroy the rich marine reef life.

The exclusively affluent and foreign gated residential community will destroy one of the few remaining forests, containing a fabulous variety of flora and fauna, in the Northern Bahamas.

The marina dredging and silting will destroy Joe’s Creek, and the hundreds of ancient mangroves which protect against hurricane storm surges and are the nurseries for the marine life on which the fisherman on the island depend.

Their traditional crabbing and hunting grounds have been lost, as the former PM Perry Christie agreed to give it to the developers for $1 per acre or some other secret amount. Despite elections promises to the contrary, the FNM, according to the Developers, has issued the Crown Land Deed to the Developers of the last remaining 179 acres of Crown (public) Land left on the island. There will be no room for the local community to grow in the future. The 150 Bahamians will be surrounded by over 700 foreigners.

Perversely….the Developers, who only paid $1 per acre, have now offered to sell 1/3 of an acre of our Bahamian Crown land back to Bahamian citizens for $50,000 or $150,000 per acre, thereby making a swift profit of 149,999%. What were the PLP and what are FNM Cabinet ministers thinking?

The development will be completely out of scale with the small island community, dwarfing it in size. The construction of the development is expected to take 10 years, and will require hundreds of transient foreign laborers. The social, economic and environmental life of this old Bahamian community is being destroyed. The local citizens are becoming foreigners in their own land.

In Save Guana Cay Case number 1, the Association obtained an injunction (after several appeals in the courts in the Bahamas) from the Privy Council in London, stopping the development until the trial. In October 2006, at the trial, acting Justice Carroll, in the Supreme Court, ruled that the Heads of Agreement was valid and allowed the development to continue. Save Guana Cay appealed and is waiting for a Court of Appeal decision.

At the Court of Appeal hearing the Government and Developers argued that even if the Heads of Agreement was invalid they had received all necessary permits from the necessary government departments, and were therefore not relying upon the Heads of Agreement as authority to proceed.

In their pre election promises, the FNM party promised freedom of information, promotion of local rights and preservation of Crown Land for Bahamians. Since the FNM became the government, Save Guana Cay have repeatedly asked the FNM to make full disclosure of all of the permits.

Despite their promises the FNM has failed and refused to give any information and Bakers Bay claims that the FNM government has given 150 acres of Crown Land to the developers.

The citizens of Guana Cay, trusting the FNM, are appalled by the FNM’s betrayal, even though 90% voted for the FNM in the general elections.

by http://www.saveguanacayreef.com/
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Leesugar

Registered | 2007-10-07 18:23:26

Damn, what a shame that our government selling the sand right from under our feet and the feet of our kids. I am dumbfounded right now...for the first time in my life. I do intend to contact a few marine life foundations worldwide and start a protest to this bullshit. We have to stick together to win this victory.

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