Details of P.M.’s Carnival Meeting Disclosed
The prime minister’s recent trip to Miami where he met with senior executives from the Bank of America, also included a meeting with Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Lines. P.M. Barrow’s purpose for calling on Duffy is to get Carnival’s view on the proposed Stake Bank Tourism Development Project. That initiative is mired in litigation, as developer Michael Feinstein and the principals of the Fort Street Tourism Village are presently before the Supreme Court. Whereas Carnival is not primarily concerned with the development of the island and the adjoining causeway, the quality of the experience for guests remains its number one priority. In previous discussions with FSTV, an expression of interest was put forward for them to build the cruise port at Stake Bank. This morning, P.M. Barrow reiterated that it’s a no-go.
Dean Barrow
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“It’s proven impossible up to this point in time to get Mr. Feinstein and FSTV to come to any agreement. I’m not done trying yet, but in the mean time I have said to the FSTV principals just last week before I went to Miami that their thought that they could build the cruise port at Stake Bank is not going to fly. Mr. Feinstein has made it plain that he is not going to sell his island. He doesn’t mind their partnering with him but in a minority role. And in any case, as they have made it clear to me, even if they had the island and they could raise the financing to construct the facilities, they would require a government guarantee of some eighty-odd million U.S. dollars. That’s an absolute no-no. Mr. Feinstein has in principle the financing coming from a consortium of local banks. And so as I said on the last occasion, in view of all this, it is government’s preference to proceed with the Feinstein version of the project. I needed to find out what Carnival’s position is. Carnival is concerned principally about the quality of the experience for the cruise passengers they bring to this country.”
