According to GBPA President, Albert Gray, Ed Stone will carry out the project that will extend to the city’s heavy industrial area, the maritime area as well as the residential and resort areas.
“There are certain areas in the Port that [are] in fact 50 years old, especially the downtown area. We want it to be more pedestrian friendly, similar to Bay Street, and so we are spending considerable money on doing the re-master planning of the city itself,” Mr. Gray explained during an interview with The Bahama Journal.
“Secondly, it is going to be extended to those areas that are not planned. We think that’s going to do good for us. We have already engaged Ed Stone’s Association (EDSA). We expect that it is going to be an ongoing process.”
EDSA has over 150 employees working from offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida; Los Angeles, California; Beijing, China and Baltimore, Maryland.
Mr. Gray predicts that the Port Authority would have completed the project over a five-year period.
He said: “This is meticulous planning. All of the aspects have to be taken into consideration – social, demographics – to ensure that we don’t have the traffic jams, the inner-city problems and if you master plan, you can avoid those things.”
Mr. Gray declined to disclose the cost attached to the project, but he said, “It is an expensive venture.”
He said the Port Authority has also already started the process of reviewing certain aspects of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement that fall away in 2015.
“We hope to renegotiate very shortly with the government for a further extension on those,” Mr. Gray said.
“More specifically, those areas would be the land tax area, which is important for Freeport if it is to sustain the growth that it is experiencing at the moment. That part of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement was extended in 1990 until the year 2015-I think that in the next month of so, I should have the first draft for Sir Jack (Hayward).”
Sir Jack is the Chairman of the Grand Bahama Development Company and Co-Chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority.
The Hawksbill Creek Agreement is a contract between the government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority that was signed back in 1955.
The Agreement granted the GBPA and its licensees concessions to import duty free materials and guaranteed freedom from all taxes for financial, commercial and industrial enterprises and the guarantee of these rights through the year 2054.
Mr. Gray’s comments followed his address at the recent Nassau Business conference at the British Colonial Hilton.
He was one of several speakers hoping to encourage New Providence businessmen to invest in Grand Bahama.
Speaking on the topic of land development, Mr. Gray pointed to Freeport’s “well-planned infrastructure,” which supports in excess of 250,000.
He said even as the city exists today, the Port Authority does not have to rush to improve its infrastructure to accommodate the envisioned growth that expected once a number of developments take root.
“In our view, we have the best drinking water in The Bahamas, a stable electricity supply, over 400 miles of U.S. based standard road system and interestingly enough, we have in excess of 20 miles of fully bulk headed canal system,” the GBPA president touted.
“The city also offers well planned superior lifestyle with excellent schools, quality real estate, modern conveniences, low crime rate and no big city stresses-There are so many opportunities for commercial investors.”
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
