The announcement that Global Ports Holdings has been chosen to manage the Nassau cruise port is big news for the country – but how will it change the waterfront?
We urge readers to visit our website – www.tribune242.com – to take a look at the video provided by Global Ports to back their bid.
Slick promotional videos are par for the course in such bids, of course, but this one has substance.
It gives a real look at how the redeveloped area would look, complete with trams to ferry ship passengers to the dock to save them a long walk, stylish new-look cabins for vendors, areas where taxis would be able to pick up fares and more.
There seems to have been a great deal of thought put into revitalising an area long in need of a fresh look.
Gone will be the battered wooden cabins and forbidding metal gates – in will come a more welcoming experience for visitors and an introduction to The Bahamas that will hopefully be both more memorable and enticing.
One thing in the video stands out, however – and it’s a matter you only need to take a late-night walk through Downtown to recognise.
Down come the shutters, up go the gates – why does Downtown shut down so early? Where is the nightlife that Bay Street used to be famous for – places such as Blackbeard’s Tavern or Dirty Dick’s? Our paltry offering is why the ships sail aways as the sun sets. Why forgo the passengers’ income - as Global Ports intend we must revive the heyday of Nassau but with new names for the nightspots that will become legends in future years.
It’s one of the parts of the video that stands out most – that by shutting down early, we are leaving money on the table rather than capitalising on a market seeking fun, laughter and entertainment.
The presence of a new concert venue on the waterfront is also enticing – what better to have music under the stars with the lights of the cruise ships twinkling nearby? Even better if the concert venue can offer a mix of local talent and big names from overseas.
There is genuine potential to be had in what Global Ports is offering – while some questions also remain. Will the new-look waterfront be the end for the horse and carriage tours, which don’t seem to have an obvious home in the new set-up? How well will taxis be able to access those pick-up sites? How much space will there be for local vendors and what will be for sale inside those fancy new arrival and departure buildings instead?
It is going to take years before the dream becomes reality and - when the building work begins there are bound to be countless complaints as people are forced to surrender to a new reality.
But the early signs are very promising – if Global Ports succeeds in everything they are aiming for, it could be the catalyst for revitalising the whole of Downtown. That would be a very welcome outcome indeed.
Arinthia following in impressive footsteps
WE SALUTE Arinthia Komolafe, the newly elected leader of the Democratic National Party – and the first woman to lead the organisation.
She follows in the footsteps of other women to take leading roles in political positions around The Bahamas – including Janet Bostwick, the first woman to serve in the House of Assembly and the first woman to be Attorney General; Loretta Butler-Turner, the first woman to lead the Opposition; S Ali McIntosh, leader of the Bahamas Constitution Party; Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Prime Minister, the first woman to take on the mantle of leading the nation in that role; Dame Doris Sands Johnson, first woman president of the Senate; and through to Dame Marguerite Pindling, the incumbent at Governor House.
Whatever the future brings for Komolafe personally and the DNA as an organisation, each of these achievements are building blocks for those women who follow them.
As she points out, around the region, other nations have elected women to lead their countries. When the time comes for a woman to be named Prime Minister of The Bahamas, it will be thanks to so many others who paved the way. We wish Arinthia Komolafe luck as she helps to create that pathway.
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