The Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA), president, Leonard Sands, suggests that the construction industry is a multi-million dollar industry, but lacks the enforcement of the legislation or the Contractors Construction Act that was passed in 2016.
Speaking at the Rotary Club of West Nassau weekly meeting, Mr. Sands said that a number of investors want to do business in the country, but are fearful of the lack of protection under the law.
“I sat, and I spoke to investors who are willing to do any number of projects in this country, but they ask me ‘is the construction contractors act now law?’ I say it is on the law books.
“I am cautious about my answer, because it is on the law books, but it is not enforced.
“We recognize that the job of legislation is to cause there to be some things to happen.
“The construction community that represents $2 billion within the economy in this country stands poised to increase that activity; however, the investor community is unsettled until the act has legs, the act has the enforcement and the construction board has the power to do the job that the government of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas gave it to do, when it passed the legislation,” Mr. Sands said.
Explaining the reasoning behind the need for the Act, Mr. Sands said that it came about as a need to regulate the industry and for the growth and development of the country.
“Our thought process and the reasoning behind this piece of legislation started this year, some 60 years ago on the first of December 1958 when the BCA was formed; when unions were important figures recognizing the power of togetherness, with a view to one day advocate for the advancement, the promotion of the best practices in a country.
“The Bahamian contractors since that day have been advocating for the regulation and the enforcement of the construction industry.
“The reasoning logic and why the piece of legislation we know as the Construction Contractors Act 2016 is not only important, it is essential to the growth and development of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas,” Mr. Sands said.
However, the association is still anticipating the enforcement of the Act.
We are at this place where we are ready to do the work that the government thought it was important for construction contractors board to do. However, this government since May 10, 2017 has not enabled us to do that work.
“There is a concern that there is a large number of people that would be impacted with the enforcement of Construction Contractors Act.
“As president of the BCA, I sat with a board and we sat with the Ministry of Works and we discussed what can happen. But we also recognized that what could happen does not outweigh the potential of the good, the potential for that investor who sees a regulated industry, who sees a group of professionals in the Bahamas available to do contracting services in the tens of millions of dollars; who would wish to engage them. However the legislation that they are used to in their country is not enforced in ours,” Mr. Sands said.
For the investment community $2 billion is a benchmark of what we feel in the Construction Association represents probably 50 percent of the true potential of construction related work in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
