Bahamas News
BAHAMAS: Prime Minister Minnis: Government to address issue of too many downtown derelict buildings
#TheBahamas, July 22, 2021 – The Government intends to address the issue of too many derelict buildings in downtown Nassau through legislation and other legal means, Prime Minister the Most Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis said today at the official opening of the Margaritaville Resort at The Pointe.
The Prime Minister said the issue must be addressed if Nassau is to meet its potential.
“There are too many derelict buildings in the city center,” said Prime Minister Minnis. “They are eyesores. While some of the old buildings can be refurbished, many have to be demolished.”
Once the issue is addressed through legislation, the Government will seek to ensure that buildings in the city center are no longer abandoned and left to deteriorate, including government and commercial buildings, he said.
The Prime Minister said the City of Nassau has the potential to be the economic hub of The Bahamas and noted that the Government has extended concessions to continue incentivizing investment.
Prime Minister Minnis said The Pointe is one of the major developments that will reside along the beautiful seascape of Nassau Harbour, which extends from Arawak Cay to near Paradise Island.
The Pointe includes the Margaritaville Beach Resort with 155 hotel rooms and the Fins-Up Waterpark with a 1,000-ft long lazy river, water slides and a surf simulator. The property also features a grand ball room, meeting rooms, restaurants, a marina, residences, and retail space.
Facilities are accessible to Bahamians and visitors.
Three-hundred Bahamians are currently employed at The Pointe, with 150 more to be hired in the months ahead, said the Prime Minister.
“Just as The Bahamas is coming back, the City of Nassau and the Nassau Waterfront are coming back,” said the Prime Minister. “The historic City of Nassau and downtown are being transformed before our very eyes.”
The Prime Minister noted that successive government and stakeholders have played a part in an ongoing transformation that is gathering pace and momentum.
Cruise Port executives have noted that they expect 60,000 visitors this month as the numbers begin to rebound.
The old Cabinet Office Building will be demolished in the months ahead. In its place will be a new, modern Cabinet Building, which will be named after a prominent Bahamian, said the Prime Minister.
The demolition of the former Bahamas Customs Warehouse on Prince George Wharf will help to pave the way for the area’s $268 million dollar transformation into the Nassau Cruise Port.
The Prime Minister said downtown will be revitalized and beautified for Bahamians and visitors.
“With developments such as The Pointe, the Nassau Cruise Port and other developments, the City of Nassau is being reenergized and renewed,” said Prime Minister Minnis.
Photos/OPM Communications
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – The FBI is investigating a woman’s ‘suspicious’ death on a Carnival Cruise ship in February. The unnamed woman and her husband boarded the Carnival Sunshine on February 27th, for a trip to the Bahamas, but she was dead before they arrived in the port in The Bahamas. 
The FBI said Carnival’s team had administered life saving measures when the woman was reported unresponsive, but they were unsuccessful. The body and the woman’s husband were released to the Bahamian authorities when the cruise arrived in the country.
In a statement shared with US media houses, Carnival Cruises claimed the death has been a natural one. The Nassau Guardian said a source told them the police findings had concurred with that assessment saying it was a “normal sudden death of a tourist who wasn’t feeling well.”
The FBI was waiting for the cruise and when it got back to South Carolina on March 4th, they immediately boarded and began to investigate the room based on ‘evidence of a crime.’ The FBI also searched the couple’s car.
No updates have been shared to contradict the currently established cause of death.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – “If you don’t like it, go to another beach!” Is what Aaron John, an Education Officer from The Bahamas National Trust jokingly tells our news team about sargassum blooms; his quip, motivated by the necessity of nature when pit against the notion that there is a real threat when the stinky seaweed makes its annual appearance.
John can admit, he says, that Sargassum isn’t very pretty but life isn’t all about aesthetics and in this instance that ugly patch serves a purpose.
“We love our sandy beaches, but in order to keep them we need Sargassum. When storms come, they wash away all the sand off the beach but sargassum acts as a mulch to protect the sand from water erosion. It doesn’t look good, it
doesn’t feel good but we need it.”
He said it also provides a habitat for small crustaceans, crabs, and insects that are all necessary to our ecosystem and islanders have found use for the weed.
“Historically, (in The Bahamas) we have been using sargassum as fertilizer, especially in the family Islands as far back as I know,” he said. “Birds don’t go on the beach unless there is Sargassum and what do they do? they feed – it’s beautiful.”
He encouraged residents to just leave it be if they came across it.
Sargassum isn’t harmful to humans, except for people with respiratory issues who may find the rotten egg smell triggers asthma. Despite this, it’s not advisable to walk through the weeds which may hide sharp rocks and bottles or vulnerable animals.
Experts say Sargassum blooms began to increase in size around 2011 and have continued to get bigger and bigger since. This year‘s bloom is around 5000 miles long and 300 miles wide and visible from space.
“I know it’s not a general outlook, but I would like to change the perspective on sargassum,” John said, pointing out The Bahamas National Trust is actively working to decrease alarm over the less worrisome events like sargassum as it raises the profile on the environmentally devastating.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos’ Bahamas Diaspora Office is moving closer and closer to opening day, following the Cabinet’s approval for the signing of a lease agreement.
The lease will be signed with FINCEN ltd in the Bahamas. Several weeks ago, Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration confirmed to our news team that the location had been found and was being finalized; now a lease is
approved at the Cabinet level.
The interest in the TCI from TC Bahamians was evident in the diaspora meetings held in early February. The two meetings held in Nassau and Grand Bahama were completely full and over-subscribed by hundreds.
It’s interest which the Government hopes will translate to real life population growth, bolstering the local population before the native population ‘goes extinct’.
The Opposition PDM is on the record with what it feels is a far more viable solution to a dwindling native population; seek out the country’s own citizens and bring them back home.
Cabinet did not state when the office will open.
-
Caribbean News1 week agoJAMAICA: 1.3 Million Covid-19 Vaccine Doses Administered in Region
-
Bahamas News1 week agoMinister Glover-Rolle Delivers CARICOM Statement at UN’s Commission on the Status of Women
-
Caribbean News1 week agoTurks & Caicos inspires and debuts Drake Fashion Line, NOCTA
-
Government1 week agoRight on Cue, Provo Dump burning again as CDB Consultants prepare for Community Meeting
-
Caribbean News5 days agoDebrief on Haiti Caribbean heads visit
-
Caribbean News1 week agoJAMAICA: Persons Encouraged to Purchase Coffee Festival Tickets Early
-
Caribbean News1 week agoUK Imposed Procurement Process Slowed TCI getting off EU Blacklist
-
Caribbean News6 days agoTCI native Phildreka Mayham promoted to Learning and Development Manager at BTC