ATLANTIS WILL ‘CERTAINLY’ SUBMIT MORE ROYAL CARIBBEAN QUERIES

addresses some of the concerns we had with regard to the coastline; what they intended to do with the coastline.

“To the extent they continue to consult the public, and share more information, that is always helpful.... I think it seems like their is more to share than what we saw them communicate last Thursday. The process of consultation with the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) is the public has 21 days to submit further questions, and I think they will share a lot more good information.

“I imagine Atlantis will submit more questions and others will as well,” Mr Roberts added. “They’re putting out more detail as to what the project involves, putting it out in the public domain. We continue to follow the process, and I’m certain we’re going to submit questions, because we have more of them, in this 21-day period and see what happens from there.

“I think they’re [Royal Caribbean] still working through their plan and working through the details of what they want to do, so things are not quite clear to us and not quite clear to them either. It’s just a step in the process.” Atlantis has hired Eric Carey, the former Bahamas National Trust (BNT) executive director, to assess the cruise line’s Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and related documents when they are released for public comment.

The Paradise Island mega resort has previously raised multiple environmental misgivings over Royal Caribbean’s project, including the likelihood that solid, and potentially other forms of waste, will have to be removed from the site by boat on a daily basis. The cruise line has addressed these concerns by stating that most waste, both solid and liquid (wastewater), would be treated and recycled on-site.

“Our environmental concerns are around a couple of key things,” Mr Roberts previously told this newspaper. “We think any expansion of the shoreline, the beach, putting any structures or jetties there, has the potential to change the beaches of Paradise Island.

To the extent the coastline of Paradise Island is changed, there’s economic implications for Atlantis, Four Seasons (the Ocean Club), and everyone else who benefits from the beautiful natural beaches.”

Rashema Ingraham, executive director of Waterkeepers Bahamas, yesterday told Tribune Business that “the ball is now in the court” of Royal Caribbean to show it takes its environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibilities by addressing the “gaps” identified by advocates at last Thursday’s consultation and previously. She said it was “unfortunate” that the public consultation had only focused on environmental issues and failed to touch socio-economic concerns such as the impact the Royal Beach Club will have on Bay Street merchants and other cruise-dependent Bahamian-owned businesses by taking an average 2,750 passengers per day over to Paradise Island.

Royal Caribbean has argued that the increase in cruise passengers to Nassau, with it set to increase its own visitor numbers from 1m per year pre-COVID to 2.5m by 2027, will mean there are more than enough tourists to go around for all. Ms Ingraham, though, said social and economic factors related to the project are “contributors to, as well as dependents of”, the environmental factors.

“That is one of the gaps that is clearly absent from the entire discussion related to the public consultation,” she added. “It was very unfortunate we didn’t get to discuss those things because there were people who had come to discuss those things.”

Praising the DEPP for “the flow of the consultation”, Ms Ingraham also argued that it was “unfair” for Royal Caribbean to release a supplemental Environmental Impact

Protest Pressure Builds On North Andros Banking Woe

FROM PAGE B1 the ATM only for it to be out of service.

He added: “The constituents on pensions have to travel to Nassau because there are no banks. What they are actually receiving in their monthly pension is less than half [of what they are entitled to] because they have to purchase plane tickets, find accommodations, transportation etc.

“There is no physical presence of a bank in North or Central Andros, so residents have to drive more than an hour only to find out that ATM is not operational in some cases, which is a major inconvenience and disruption not only for the residents, but a major disruption for commerce.”

The North Andros Chamber of Commerce hosted a Town Hall meeting last week to discuss options for solving the area’s banking woes. Donna Pickstock, North Andros chief councillor, told Tribune Business: “I know that banking as we know it, the brick and mortar banking, the face-to-face is quickly becoming obsolete and online banking is the way the world is going now.

“All transactions are transitioning to being done online. But we need a bank here in North Andros, if only once or twice a week, because we still have businesses here and the elderly who want or need that in-person banking. It’s a challenge to the businesses