The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

TRANSPORT and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin yesterday said her ministry’s $3m Potter’s Cay redevelopment project remains on budget, but is slightly behind schedule as officials work to ensure “international port procedures” are in place throughout all new facilities in development at the site.

Away from the efforts of the Port Department, the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources will oversee a proposed $9m project involving the fish and food vendors and the stalls connected with their commercial enterprise.

If approved, the 65-stall scheme will push total cost of Potter’s Cay redevelopment project to around $12m.

Addressing the press during a tour of the docking facility, Mrs Hanna Martin revealed that policy documents were presently being drafted that would allow for precise security mechanisms implemented at the site.

This comes after a report referred to the site as a “smuggler’s paradise”, calling into question the “checks and balances” there.

Despite this, however, Mrs Hanna Martin yesterday said her ministry aims to enhance both the facilities and security mechanisms at Potter’s Cay to “safe, secure and highly enjoyable” levels.

“We will bring peculiar port security procedures, mirroring international port procedures and that process is underway now,” she said.

“Papers are prepared and done, and we are now considering that and to see what needs to be done. This is going to be a safe, secure and highly enjoyable facility.

“This is a place where Bahamians come and (the government) is now redeveloping it, but I don’t want to regret the past, but to say that it is about time that resources are invested in a location where people come to enjoy themselves – Bahamians.

“I think this is going to become a really spectacular, dynamic (and) enjoyable location for the Bahamian people and it is well deserve.

“All in all, by the time this is completed, I think this will go significantly towards transforming Nassau and providing wonderful recreation activity for the Bahamian people,” Mrs Hanna-Martin said.

“We are going to have enhanced lighting, CCTV; the police station is there, we will be seeking to have them extend their hours - 24 hours - I think they have already started.

“What we are doing now is ensuring that everything that is done is more rationalised in a way that makes it a much more enjoyable experience for all of the varying activities. On the docking aspect of it, lots of redevelopment is happening out of there, but one of the reasons we are doing that is to ensure that the activities are rationalized because right now, you have a lot that is going on at one time.

“You will find that freight will no longer access the docking area and as a result of that, the mail boat operators will have to manage the receipt of freight and the transmission of vessels. We are putting in place security measures which controls access to that dock and as a result we are now reviewing the regulations that govern this facility.

“We are being advised from our International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) coordinator who assists with all of our national ports and we are looking to mirror, or to have a domestic sort of version of international ship and port facility security, which will govern activities on the docking facilities and goods that come in and out.

“We have a boardwalk. We have parking. We are also looking at the sunken vessels some of which you will see here. Cabinet has recently agreed to go out to tender, to remove all of these sunken vessels and through our regulations we will seek to put teeth in how we address people who bring their vessels out here, just leave them, and create navigational hazards and eyesores for the rest of us,” she said.

“We have to have a zero-tolerance on that issue, it has plagued us for many, many years.”

Assistant Port Controller Craig Curtis clarified that the redevelopment project stood between 80 per cent and 90 per cent complete and it is around $700,000 under budget.

He said the project, originally slated for an April 2017 completion, is now projected to be concluded by mid-2017 at the earliest.

The entire project is being carried out in three over-lapping phases.

Phase one involves the removal and relocation of trees on the southern foreshore to create a parking area, which is being extended to William Street, while the second phase includes the renovation and extension of the fish farm store that will be extended by 150 feet to accommodate mail boat operators and agents.

According earlier statements by the Port Department, the extension will accommodate freight holdings, bulkhead kerbing and passenger waiting area. Bathrooms will be installed.

Additionally, the Bahamas Power and Light transformer in place at the northern end of the dock will be relocated to enable the establishment of security checkpoints to monitor and control access to the mail boat area. Permanent kerbs will be erected at the end of the dock as a safety measure.

In the final phase of the redevelopment, due to begin in the coming weeks, the causeway will be repaired and rehabilitated, the dock entry will be widened and sidewalks, signage, drainage wells and additional landscaping will be installed. It will also result in the complete redirecting of traffic to the general parking area.