Shadow Minister for National Security Dr. Andre Rollins is once again calling for the government to “come clean” on the extent of problems facing the multi-billion property Baha Mar.

In a statement sent yesterday, Dr. Rollins said there is more to Baha Mar that meets the eye and that Prime Minister Perry Christie has not been honest with Bahamians.

“Thus far, the Prime Minister has been irresponsible in creating false perceptions and encouraging Bahamians to have unrealistic expectations regarding the opening of the multi-billion dollar resort project,” he said.

“In reality, the status of this project is a lot more worrisome than the government would like for us to know. The Bahamian people deserve to know the truth: The problems affecting Baha Mar are both severe and complex and a resolution to those problems is in fact more expensive and protracted than the government has previously stated.”

Dr. Rollins said Baha Mar is not a “cheap or quick fix” and said that the property is uninsurable.

“I am reliably informed that a recent site inspection of Baha Mar by an insurer, as a precondition to insuring the property, revealed some alarming findings. These findings caused the insurer to conclude that the $3.2billion asset is presently uninsurable,” he said.

“In effect, due to construction deficiencies, in its present state the property has been assessed to be a $3.2 billion liability. I am further advised that the repair costs to remediate the construction deficiencies may be as high as $1.8 billion and not the previously estimated figure of $600 million provided by Prime Minister Christie.

“Given this information, the question must be asked: To what extent is this project even redeemable? Furthermore, members of the public are entitled to know why the government paid an independent contractor, Reese Engineering, approximately $9 million of taxpayer funds, if that firm failed to notify the government of the construction deficiencies they were being paid to identify and report. The payment of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds for the purposes of providing essential oversight – oversight that this government never claimed that it did not receive – makes this government partly responsible and answerable for the failures of this project’s completion.”

The shadow minister said reports of severe construction deficiencies once again begs the question why the government chose to take sides in a private dispute between the developer and the contractor involving allegations by the developer of non-performance by the contractor.

“Why did the Christie administration strenuously object to the developer’s efforts to seek legitimate recourse via U.S. bankruptcy protection proceedings that it could not access via our local Bahamian courts due to the absence of any suitable Bahamian bankruptcy laws,” Dr. Rollins said.

“The Christie administration’s role in this matter has been both irresponsible and irrational. The Bahamian people deserve a complete and transparent disclosure of all of the facts as they are and not as the government wishes to mislead the Bahamian people into believing them to be.”

He added that the Progressive Liberal Party has criticized him for calling for an incoming FNM administration to void any and all agreements deemed to be contrary to the sovereign interest of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

“I will go even further based on the revelations now brought to my attention: A new FNM administration must urgently convene a Commission of Inquiry into the Baha Mar project as a means of uncovering the absolute truth and rebuilding our nation’s reputational integrity,” he said.

Prime Minister Christie has often said that he is optimistic about the future of Baha Mar.

During the 2016/2017 budget, he revealed that there were two potential buyers for the beleaguered Cable Beach property.