Press Secretary Anthony Newbold said yesterday that Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis has no intentions of responding to the moratorium request made by BMD Holdings two days ago.

In a statement released on Sunday, BMD stated that it has reviewed the heads of terms regarding concessions agreed upon by the previous government of The Bahamas, the China EXIM Bank, and China State Construction (“CCA”) with respect to the yet to be completed sale of Baha Mar to Chow Tai Fook, and urged the new government to place a moratorium on the completion of any sale of Baha Mar and other transactions under these agreements.

BMD is asking for a moratorium so that the company and the public can thoroughly assess the extent of the toxicity of these arrangements to The Bahamas and how the best interests of Bahamians can be met.

“What I can say to you is that there has not been an official reaction to the suggestion because the contracts and the situation is still being evaluated. I’m told it’s a very complex situation,” Mr. Newbold said.

“Undoubtedly, I would say the Bahamian people have a vested interest in the success of that development.”

He also noted that he could not confirm that Dr. Minnis had any meetings with former Baha Mar developer Sarkis Izmirlian therefore he could not and would not speculate as to what the alleged meetings may have entailed.

What he did say was that Dr. Minnis met with the president of Atlantis to discuss the rebranding of the property that would integrate more of the Bahamian culture.

“There will be lots more Bahamian elements in the Marina Village even though there are some now,” he said.

“That was a good meeting.”