Eight Mile Rock, G.B. – The Government of The Bahamas on April 27 executed a contract totalling $2,350,000 for the construction of a modern Fish Fry and Cultural Centre at Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama.
This new entertainment centre will replace the Sunset Village, destroyed by hurricanes in 2004.
Noula Investment Company was awarded the contract to construct the new facility. The company’s president, Max Quant, expects to have the facility completed in six month. Signing on behalf of the Government was the Hon. Neko C. Grant, Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing.
The function attracted a large audience and was laced with performances by the Grand Bahama Division of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band. It also attracted a number of tourism officials as well as officials from the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture, including Minister Charles Maynard who also addressed the gathering.
Mr. Grant, a product of the West Grand Bahama district, told those attending the opening that it was a pleasure for him to participate in the groundbreaking and contract signing.
He reminded all that in September of 2004 as a result of Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, the vending booths at the fish fry at the Sunset Village site were destroyed.
“During July, 2010, a contract was awarded to G&L Construction to construct a seawall extending 700 feet along the coast at Sunset Village. I am pleased to confirm that those works were executed as agreed and the seawall is completed.
“At the time of the contract signing for the mentioned seawall, I announced plans for the further development of the Sunset Village area by the construction of a cultural centre and a permanent Fish Fry site to replace the one destroyed by the hurricanes,” Mr. Grant recalled.
He also reminded his audience that shortly after the contract signing for the seawall, that his Ministry commissioned Bruce Lafleur and Associates to provide architectural services, inclusive of schematic designs, design development, construction documents, tender/negotiation, and contract administration phases for the project, and those service were negotiated for an agreed fee of eight percent of the construction cost.
“The schematic architectural design was prepared by Bruce Lafleur and Associates and their quantity surveyor, Veritas Consultants, provided a preliminary budget of $2,063,630 to complete the project.
“This was presented to Cabinet, to which it did not agree to proceed, but agreed instead that I proceed based on a revised schematic design with a maximum construction budget of $1,000,000,” Mr. Grant recalled.
He talked about how the architectural firm revised the schematic design and sought to move the tendering phase using a selected tender process with five packages tendered to ensure adequate participation of Grand Bahama based contractors.
In that regard some 14 firms collected tender documents for the various packages. During the opening of the tenders at the Tenders Board meeting on December 13, 2011, Mr. Grant recalled that not all the companies submitted tenders and from the few who did, the Board decided to reject all tenders.
He said a subsequent tender exercise was therefore undertaken based on a revised $2 million single package and that six local contractors collected tender documents.
According to the Minister of Works at the Tender Board meeting on February 14, 2012 only three of the six contractors responded. These were Noula Investment $3,344.762.17 with a proposed six-month completion deadline; Qualfast Construction $5,053,670.67 with a 12 month completion deadline, and Fidelity Construction $5,007,192.88 with a proposed 10 month completion deadline.
Mr. Grant informed that all of the bids were higher than the budget for the project, and that the scope of works was further reduced and negotiation was conducted with the lowest bidder (Noula Investment) to complete the project for $2,350,000.
“My Ministry then recommended that a contract should be awarded to Noula Investment in the base amount of $2,350.000, to which the Tenders Board and Cabinet agreed.
“Today, we are here to advance this project to construct the Cultural Centre and Fish Fry as promised on the original site along the shoreline,” he stated.
When completed, the Cultural Centre and Fish Fry will feature a pavilion for a band stand, administration building, standardised vendors’ booths, public toilet facilities and parking lots.
In his remarks, Cultural Minister Charles Maynard applauded Minister Grant’s determination to see the project come to fruition.
He said Mr. Grant has a passion for Grand Bahama and that it was much evident in his “determination to see the project through.
Mr. Maynard also said that “the project is expected to be the benchmark for where we go moving forward in building cultural villages throughout our family of islands.”
By SIMON LEWIS
Bahamas Information Services
