By LEDEDRA MARCHE

Senior FN Reporter

lededra@nasguard.com

Grand Bahama Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Albert Miller quashed reports yesterday that Bahamians will be terminated from the company.

Commenting that Freeport is a place of rumours, Sir Albert said however, there could be areas where there will be changes.

Two well-placed executives have resigned from the GBPA over the last three weeks. Both of them are Bahamian.

Barry Malcolm, who held the executive vice-president post over the last five years, resigned a week ago today. His portfolio included business development and licensing.

Julian Francis, the former governor of the Central Bank of The Bahamas, reportedly tendered his resignation exactly one year to the day he began on June 1.

He served for eight and a half years as Governor of The Central Bank of The Bahamas before retiring on May 31, 2005 to take up the executive position at the GBPA.

The veteran banker spent more than 30 years in the banking industry before his appointment as co-chairman and CEO on June 1, 2005 after the passing of Mr. St. George in December 2004.

Francis signed on with a four-year contract with the GBPA.

However, Austrian businessman Hannes Babak, was assigned as the new chairman on June 1 and, Sir Albert, the former co-chairman and president of the GBPA was encouraged out of retirement to become the new CEO.

The new chairman owns H. & F. Babak Construction Company and is a major shareholder of Freeport Concrete Company, the parent company of The Home Centre.

He also built the high-end Ocean View Condominium located on Lucayan Beach.

Since Malcolm's resignation, there have been reports about more Bahamians leaving the Port Authority.

"There could very well be one or two areas where we might have to streamline," Sir Albert told the media yesterday at a press briefing, "but we have not come to put a bunch of Bahamians out of work. That is not so.

"We're going to look at what's there. There might be some people not in the right place, we might have to change some people around.

"But," he added, "we would like to think that we would create sufficient business to keep them occupied and we think they have a contribution to make."