After ignoring a four-year-old airport infrastructure study and repeated warnings from Florida Cruise Association, the government is now trying to find ways to raise at least $49 million to repair critical runways and carry out much needed maintenance at the Prince George Dock.
Speaking in the House of Assembly this morning Minister of Transport and Aviation Glennys Hanna Martin disclosed that preliminary estimates peg the cost of repairs to the Nassau International Airport runway 1432 around $20 million.
“As the repair requirement to runway 1432 is at a critical stage the Airport Authority is considering methods to raise the capital to effect the necessary repairs,” Mrs. Hanna-Martin said. “A number of methods [is] being looked at including the institution of a passenger facility charge.”
As a revenue protection measure, the government is now transferring the burden of collecting departure tax away from the airline to travel agencies.
During the second reading of a Bill for an Act to Amend the Passenger and Ticket Taxes Act, Adelaide MP Michael Halkitis said this would avoid any revenue leakages and less “pilferage.”
Instead of paying the departure tax in the airport, travelers will now be required to fork over the $15 fee as a cost included in the airline ticket purchase price.
According to the Transport Minister, the $20 million figure needed for runway 1432 does not address repairs for runway nine through 27, or
ﾠﾠthe run-down state of the domestic airport terminal. Repairs to the other runways are estimated to cost around $16 million.
Mrs. Hanna-Martin noted that a master airport plan commissioned years ago placed the development of the Nassau International Airport at $200 million.
Meantime, the Florida Cruise Association – the representative body of all cruise lines visiting the port of Nassau – has repeatedly expressed their concerns about port safety for passengers and vessel, Mrs. Hanna-Martin said.
According to a UK-study of the Prince George Wharf commissioned in 2001, the total cost of urgent mandatory repairs is estimated to be over $6 million.
Mrs. Hana-Martin said, “The long term repairs combined with the urgent repairs are estimated at over $13 million.
“The Ministry of Transport and Aviation is now considering means of raising the necessary funding to effect the repairs forthwith.”
According to the Transport Minister, the current condition of these facilities is not acceptable and reflects “poorly” on the nation’s economic development.
“The repair of the major runway at Prince George Dock are now imperatives that ought not to have been postponed and cannot be further postponed,” Mrs. Hanna-Martin said.
“This now places a challenge on the government to raise the necessary funding to effect these repairs totaling potentially as much as $39 million. This is one bullet the Bahamian people must bite.”
By Tosheena Blair, The Bahama Journal
