By: Staff Writer
April 23, 2021
A Bahamian entrepreneur will not be pushed off of his dream project on Paradise Island despite Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL) striking a deal with the government of The Bahamas on the same land he has already been given permission to develop.
Toby Smith, principal of Paradise Island Lighthouse & Beach Club Company, told Caribbean Magazine Plus that RCCL is going through a public consultation for their Paradise Island-based Royal Beach Club project on Paradise Island, but the land RCCL has been marketing and trying to develop has been leased to him from the government of The Bahamas and RCCL won’t stand down and calls the government out for dealing with both sides.
Mr Smith said: “So the important thing to understand is that they offered me a lease on January 7, 2020 and then just a few weeks later, they offered the same land to RCCL a week before they went to Freeport to sign a heads of agreement for the sale of the Grand Lucayan.”
The government of The Bahamas signed a HOA with RCCL/ITM Group in early March, 2020 and the $250m investment will go “a long way” said Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis towards revitalizing the economy of Grand Bahama that was hit by the massive category five hurricane, Dorian.
Mr Smith spoke to the duplicity of the government saying, “they are selling two people the same thing.”
Apparently advisors in the Office of the Prime Minister acknowledge that there are two projects on Paradise Island, Mr Smith’s Paradise Island Lighthouse & Beach Club Project and that of the RCCL/ITM Royal Beach Club Project.
APPROVAL-Lands-Surveys-Cover-letter-to-crown-land-lease-agreement-07JAN20Paradise Island’s flagship occupant, the Atlantis Resort, has not gone on record at any time over this apparent fight for land by the competing interests. Mr Smith’s project seeks to beautify the old Lighthouse at the Colonial Beach on the western end of the island and RCCL/ITM are planning a cruise stop and beach day stop for their cruise ship passengers.
Mr Smith said: “This is a David and Goliath situation, and you know who won that battle? Their lawyer is calling me as a small man with a stick and I’m saying I will now I’m one man with a stick and I got Wayne Munroe QC on my side.”
Vowing to fight on, Mr Smith has decided he will fight the government and RCCL in court over the apparent breach of contract and is not backing down from his claim to the parcel of crown land granted to him by the government.
Joshua-Sears-letter-to-RCL-26FEB20He added: “We filed everything. Initially (attorney general) Carl Bethel QC told me in a meeting on February 27, 2020 that all of those documents that I have, the Bahamas Investment Authority, the Memorandum of Understanding and the crown land lease, they aren’t worth the piece of paper they are written on.”
Mr Smith has already undertaken preparatory work at the Lighthouse & Beach Club with regard to clearing down bushes and doing other surveying work in order to start his project, however this is now in jeopardy until Mr Smith can prove that the government breached their agreement with him on the lease of the land in dispute.
Mr Smith also said: “I think this sends a very dangerous message. The courts have to decide the validity of what they’re doing.
“I said, I’m willing to talk with RCL, just to make sure because they might not know what go on here. And they’ve got the government blowing smoke and they’re unwilling to come to me.”
Saying he has given his cellular phone number to Michael Bayley, RCCL’s chief executive officer and that there is a “small window that may close” where he may not be as willing to talk to RCCL on this matter anymore, so it is incumbent upon them to come to a solution with him on this land impasse or have to deal with the courts and the matter being fully adjudicated for all and sundry.
“I’m drawing a line in the sand. This is my boundaries. Royal Caribbean in a public consultation document, they’re saying they got an area highlighted, which includes parcel B of my land and they’re calling it Royal Caribbean crown land lease,” said Mr Smith