The project of the Baha Mar resort casino is having problems yet again as 2,000 employees have now been laid off. Beginning yesterday, the Supreme Court of the Bahamas approved the provisional liquidators request to issue layoff notices to active employees and non-active employees. In total, 580 active and 1,440 non-active employees were laid off.

Within the active employees laid off, individuals held positions of management and line staff of the resort, which has a construction cost of $3.5b. The resort has yet to be finished after work stopped back in June due to the developer, main contractor and financial backers disputing amongst each other.

Liquidation team member Alistair Beveridge stated that the staff was kept as long as possible based on the limited funds available by the Bahamian government to liquidators. The resort was paying the housekeeping staff when there was no work to be done, as well as employees of the spa and casino.

In June, Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was filed by Baha Mar Ltd, the developer of the project. The company claimed that the contractor of the project, China Construction America, did not meet specific timelines for the completion of the project. The construction firm then fired back, accursing Baha Mar of not paying their bills. Export-Import Bank of China is the principal backer of the project and has since declined to provide Baha Mar with any funds.

Speaking out on the subject, Perry Christie, the Prime Minister, stated that he was disappointed in the layoffs of the facility. A winding-up petition was filed by the government, backed by Christie, to try and gain control of the project from Baha Mar Ltd. The petition has until November 2nd to move forward.