Bahamas News

BAHAMAS: Estimated 13,000 cubic yards of debris removed during first two days of cleanup campaign

Published

6 years ago

January 23, 2018

#Bahamas, January 23, 2018 – Nassau – Preliminary estimates indicate that more than 13,000 cubic yards of debris was removed from the Bain and Grants Town community during the first two days of the Over-the-Hill Clean-up and Bulk Waste Removal Campaign. The campaign began on Friday and ramped up its operation on Saturday. Some of the work had to be completed on Sunday.

Officials from the Economic Development and Planning Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister, the Department of Environmental Health Services and The Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority – who combined their resources and assets to make the campaign happen — say the figure equates to the size of six full-length football fields.

“So far everyone has done an excellent job in making Phase One of this initiative a success,” Dr. Nicola Virgill-Rolle, Director of the Economic Development and Planning Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister said.

“Want to thank everybody who have been out here working – DEHS, Beaches and Parks Authority, all of the workers from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) who have really been executing a tremendous work in executing the first phase of this cleanup.

“The cooperation from residents has been outstanding. Community cooperation/effort has been amazing. The residents got notification of this exercise well ahead of time, there was good communication around it, and so residents were well-prepared, they put their waste out as instructed and our facilitators were able to come by with the trucks and manual labour to take the debris out.”

Dr. Rolle praised the partnership between the three government agencies/departments. The bulk waste removal and management of the heavy equipment used was done through the Department of Environmental Health Services while employees of The Bahamas Public Beaches and Public Parks Authority took care of the manual work.

“The work over this first phase entailed cleaning down lots, bulk waste removal such as the removal of stoves, refrigerators, etcetera,” Dr. Virgill-Rolle said. “ We have also been removing derelict vehicles as well. Where persons have given permission to remove vehicles, they have been taken out of area as well.”

Mr. Kemi Jones, Project Manager for the Over-the-Hill Community Development Partnership Initiative of which the Clean-up and Bulk Waste Removal Campaign is but one pillar, said the focus of Phase One of the Clean-up focused on the areas north of Meadow Street, and north of Ross and Gibbs Corners. Officials will focus on the areas next weekend going back to areas south of Meadow Street and Ross and Gibbs Corners, as far south as Wulff Road and Poinciana Drive the weekend of January 26-28 during Phase Two.

“It’s a massive area, but we are working hard and doing our best to impact as many lives as possible and get it done correctly, “Mr. Jones said. “One of the six pillars of the Over-the- Hill Community Development Partnership Initiative talks about rejuvenation, so this cleanup effort is focusing specifically on getting the trash, bulk waste and derelict vehicles out of the area and then once we have done that, in February residents will witness the launch of our painting programme where we are actually trying to put a new face on the entire community.

Mr. Jones said empowering residents is another key component of the Initiative.

“Some of the educational initiatives we have planned for the month of February involve training persons in the communities as to how they can take lessons learnt from these cleanup initiatives and turn them into businesses – how to become a landscaper; how to use their trucks and turn it into a commercial enterprise, teaching them how to become entrepreneurs.

“In talking to the residents, many of them have very good intentions and many of them want to see the area cleaned and to remain clean, but they just needed a jumpstart, that injection. You would be surprised how an injection of capital can lead to further things, such as taking the funds they earned today and buying a lawnmower with which they can start their own landscaping business for example,” Mr. Jones added.

By: Matt Maura (BIS)

Photo Captions:

Header: Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert A. Minnis (second right) tours the cleanup area on Saturday accompanied by (from left) Joshua Sears, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Prime Minister; Travis Robinson, member of Parliament, Bain and Grants Town; Melanie McKenzie, Director, Department of Environmental Health Services and at far right, Shanandon Cartwright, Chairman, The Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority. (BIS Photo/Peter Ramsay)

Insert: Debris being piled onto a heavy duty truck for transport to the public dump as part of the Over-the-Hill Clean-Up and Bulk Waste removal Campaign which got underway Friday, January 19, 2018 in the Bain and Grants Town Community. (BIS Photo/Derek Smith)

Bahamas News

Sister Province/Island Relationship Agreement Signed between Grand Bahama Island and Hunan Province

Published

18 mins ago

April 25, 2024

Deandrea Hamilton

By LLONELLA GILBERT
Bahamas Information Services

NASSAU, The Bahamas — A significant milestone was made in the development of bilateral relations between the Governments of The Bahamas and the People’s Republic of China by the signing of the Sister Province/Island Relationship Agreement between Grand Bahama Island and Hunan Province.

The signing took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. The Hon. Ginger Moxey, Minister for Grand Bahama; the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness; Kingsley Smith, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry for Grand Bahama and Joel Lewis, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Grand Bahama represented The Bahamas at the signing.

His Excellency Mao Weiming, Governor of Hunan Provincial People’s Government; Qu Hai, Secretary General of Hunan Provincial People’s Government; Cui Wei, Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China; and Yang Peiran, Interpreter represented the People’s Republic of China.

Minister Moxey explained that in February 2022, she and the former Chinese Ambassador to The Bahamas, Her Excellency Dai Qingli began discussion on the establishment of a province-island relationship between Hunan Province and Grand Bahama Island because of their “immense synergy”.

“Hunan has a vibrant creative industry and its capital city, Changsha is known as the entertainment capital of China, whilst Grand Bahama is poised to become the home of entertainment in ‘Our Bluepoint for Change’.”

She said Hunan Province boasts 11 industrial sectors and Grand Bahama is the industrial capital of The Bahamas. Further, innovation driven development has been a new driving force for Hunan, while Grand Bahama is poised to become the home of innovation for The Bahamas.

Minister Moxey said she is confident that an exchange of knowledge, ideas and culture will happen between the residents of Hunan Province and Grand Bahama.

“There is potential for robust trade in various sectors, opportunities for tourism promotion and intercultural appreciation, exchanges to support performing arts programs on our island, foster growth within the Orange Economy, and tap into China’s innovation, technology and vast expertise.”

She said that the formal signing aligns with the mission of Sister Cities International, which is to promote peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation, one community at a time.

The Minister said, “Through collaborative programs and initiatives, this connection will support the government’s vision to diversity Grand Bahama’s economy to become the Home of Maritime and Logistics, Home of Events and Entertainment and Home of Innovation.”

She noted that in addition to signing the agreement, she looks forward to Grand Bahama residents benefitting from the signing of the Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding between Central South University and University of The Bahamas (UB), which will expand educational and technical cooperation between the two universities. The northern campus of UB is located in Grand Bahama.

His Excellency Mao Weiming said although geographically far apart, China and The Bahamas are friends with mutual respect and understanding as well as sincerity.

He explained that 27 years ago, both countries established diplomatic relations and China and The Bahamas have deepened their cooperation, strengthened their friendship and carried out many activities in the field of economy, trade and people-to-people exchange.

His Excellency recalled that in August 2022, he and Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance the Hon. Philip Davis had a video conference where they both reached a consensus to cooperate in order to usher a new chapter in the relationship between Hunan and The Bahamas.

“Today, we are here to sign a sister-to-sister relationship between Hunan and Grand Bahama. It is [a] concrete move to implement our consensus reached before and also to embark on a new journey of friendly exchanges.”

He added, “By establishing the relationship of sister cities, I believe the two sides will develop further in terms of economic and trade cooperation, people to people exchange, as well as friendship, and we will embrace new opportunities and deliver concrete benefits for the two peoples.”

He explained that Hunan, which is the home town of Chairman Mao, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, has developed very advanced industries of manufacturing, agriculture, education, culture as well as tourism.

His Excellency said he believes that Hunan and Grand Bahama enjoy very broad room for cooperation.

He said, “More efforts should be made to conduct cooperation in the fields of agriculture, tourism, culture, education and the film industry so as to realize a connectivity between our two sides in terms of logistics and the platform cooperation; so as to deliver concrete benefits for the people and to make our due contribution to the bilateral relationship between China and The Bahamas.”

PHOTO CAPTION

A significant milestone was made in the development of bilateral relations between the Governments of The Bahamas and the People’s Republic of China by the signing of the Sister Province/Island Relationship Agreement between Grand Bahama Island and Hunan Province. The signing took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Shown from left: Qu Hai, Secretary General of Hunan Provincial People’s Government; Cui Wei, Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China; Yang Peiran, Interpreter H.E. Mao Weiming, Governor of Hunan Provincial People’s Government; the Hon. Ginger Moxey, Minister for Grand Bahama; the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness; Kingsley Smith, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry for Grand Bahama and Joel Lewis, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Grand Bahama.

(BIS Photos/Anthon Thompson)

Bahamas News

Nassau Cruise Port Donates Nearly $2 Million Towards Food Security

Published

26 mins ago

April 25, 2024

Deandrea Hamilton

Nassau, Bahamas: The Nassau Cruise Port has donated $1.95 million towards projects that will assist the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources in its aim to increase food security for The Bahamas.

The donation officially occurred at the Ministry’s offices recently, where Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Hon. Jomo Campbell, Minister of Labour Hon. Pia Glover-Rolle, Permanent Secretary Neil Campbell and Nassau Cruise Port CEO Mike Maura listened to a number of presentations including one for a poultry programme for schools, a chicken broiler production programme, the redevelopment of the Blue Hill Road Farmers Market and an Authentic Bahamian Cultural Concept Store,

Mr. Maura said he was impressed by the presentations.

“I had the privilege to listen to the presentations and review presentations that touched on food security and the need for us to be self-sufficient, which as a Bahamian I support completely. At the Nassau Cruise Port, we get excited about the prospects of offering more authentic food to the millions of visitors that we have each year,” he said.

“And then, in addition to that, we had presentations around the further development of our artisans, which is so important to us as well. The guests visiting our shores are looking for something that really touches The Bahamas and can’t be found somewhere else. The Nassau Cruise Port has made a pledge to BAIC and its affiliates. We will be supporting the projects that were presented and we can’t wait to get started.”

Minister Glover-Rolle, who is also the Member of Parliament for Golden Gates, hailed Nassau Cruise Port as a “great community partner.”

“Thank you for the opportunity to not only present but agreeing to participate. Our Minister of Agriculture has a goal of reducing food imports by 25 percent by the year 2025 and our project in the Golden Gates Community speaks to that,” she said.

“We have a number of backyard farmers, farmers and fishers in our community in Golden Gates. Being able to use the Blue Hill Road Farmers Market, which is going to be dubbed the ‘Fish Fry of the South,’ as a hub for food security but also a hub where artisans and handicraft persons can come and sell their wares is wonderful. So, we are happy that you have agreed to partner with us and we look forward to a partnership and we hope to welcome some of your visitors when this amazing renovation is done.”

Minister Campbell also lauded the Nassau Cruise Port for its efforts.

“I would like to say thank you to the presenters for the presentations that are several steps in the right direction for our country, to Mr. Maura and his board at the Nassau Cruise Port and I would like to say thanks to God for this partnership and bringing us all together as we move forward, upward, together in building a better, brighter, future for The Bahamas,” he said.

Bahamas News

Royal Caribbean Club in The Bahamas started after delays

Published

18 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Shanieka

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#TheBahamas#RoyalCaribbean, April 23, 2024- After being delayed following its announcement in 2020, Royal Caribbean’s new 17 acre Royal Beach Club on Paradise Island in Nassau, Bahamas, is now in the works and is scheduled to be ready for 2025, according to reports. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Monday April 22, signifying the start of construction in the next few months. This project is huge for The Bahamas as it’s a first of kind for the nation, with a unique public private partnership allowing Bahamians to hold up to 49 percent in equity.