The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE setbacks, construction of the Nassau Village Community Centre is ahead of schedule.

The facility, including a 12-room community centre, is being built through a public-private partnership between the government and the Bahamas Striping Group of Companies (BSGC).

The project is expected to be completed within 14 to 17 months. The current construction team includes 13 Bahamian contractors.

Jamahl Strachan, MP for Nassau Village, said the reception for the community centre has been positive.

“They look forward to it being finished, and we’re just delivering on exactly what we promised,” he said.

“This edifice is one of one. It’s something that the community has not seen. This is an expression of our government’s commitment to Nassau Villagers and the wider Bahamas.”

BSGC project manager Devon Adderley said despite 21 days of rain in June and July and a change of plans from renovating the existing structure to building a brand new facility, construction is ahead of schedule because of the construction team’s hard work and strategic planning.

Atario Mitchell, president of BSGC, said: “We’re proud to be a part of this project as well as the benefits that it will bring to this community. It just goes to show that the public-private partnership initiatives are working in the country, and this is just one of them. We’re looking forward to delivering a state-of-the-art building to the Nassau Village Community.

“With the construction process, once we get past the belt course, then we’re looking at securing the roof, then doing the landscaping, and just finishing up the entire project.”

The environmentally friendly community centre, which officials say will be similar to the centre in Fox Hill, will have the capacity to be entirely solar powered, with a computer lab, a commercial-grade kitchen, two multi-purpose rooms to allow for social services, a backup generator, a sick bay, conference rooms and family stalls.

The facility will also function as a shelter with a capacity for 120 people during a hurricane or other natural disasters.