SLIDESHOW Photos: Derek Carroll

The Bahamas Journal - The three-phase plan includes a full-scale clean up of downtown Freeport, the introduction of new landscaping, signage, benches, lighting and other aesthetically pleasing features in the area.

Port Authority officials met with business owners yesterday in the Churchill Square in Downtown, Freeport, to give an update on the Project, which commences on April 1.

Newly appointed President of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Ian Rolle said the project is in response to a survey conducted with businesspersons in the area.

According to Rolle, the GBPA has a mandate to create economic activity and to provide an environment in which businesses can flourish.

"We plan to breathe new life into this downtown area," he said. "We had in-house persons do a survey of the area to determine what is needed in order for this place to thrive again and it was determined that there were basically three things that most persons mentioned: vagrancy, more presence by the police and more cosmetic work to the buildings."

He said the Port is currently looking at using a building owned by the Authority to house vagrants but he said that they are looking at introducing a more comprehensive rehabilitative component.

"When we look at the vagrancy population, it comprises of drug addicts, alcoholics and persons who just do not have a home. So I think what we will end up doing is a study to determine the best facility to put these vagrants in," he said.

Mr. Rolle said that the Port has been in talks with the new head of the Grand Bahama District of the Police Force and his senior officers, and they have committed to increasing police presence in the downtown area.

He also noted that a number of business houses have offered their services at discounted prices to assist in the aesthetic facelift of the down town area.

Photo: Derek Carroll

Chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Hannes Babak said that it is about time the downtown area receive a facelift, having looked that way for quite a long time.

"When we look around, I think it is time that we give it a facelift. Besides the security issues and vagrancy, we have to make it attractive so that people will come here to shop. The sooner we can accomplish this, the sooner we can do something great for downtown and for the shop owners to give everybody in Freeport a new environment," he said.

Ali Campbell, Deputy Director of the Building and Development Department at the GBPA – the department directly responsible for the Downtown Turnaround Project, said that all of the infrastructure including the drain wells, the hard scapes, landscapes, and lighting would be addressed as they go into one area at a time.

The total job is divided into three phases with Phase I having the boundary including Explorers Way in the North, East Mall in the East, West Mall in the West and Bank Lane in the North. This will include the Post Office, Royal Bank, Seventeen Shop, Grand Union and other businesses in that areas as well as all the parking areas in that area.

"We would also advise the private sector as to how best we can assist with the routing of traffic in and out of business areas. We are presently in the position of having a landscape architect redesign the entire area for us. This would define exactly what the new parking lighting fixtures would look like; with the new trash containers and new walkways which will be changed in some areas to a paved area. In short, the entire infrastructure of the areas is to be revisited and changed." Mr. Campbell affirmed.

Nakera Wilchcombe, head of the Port’s Environmental Department said that there is research to support the conclusion that improving landscapes and adding greenery can assist in improving the way of life and in helping to ‘de-stress’ persons.

"So we want to make the downtown area an experience for persons coming to visit, which will hopefully translate into better business for those owners in the downtown area," she said.

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