Freeport, The Bahamas - On April 1st, a three-phase plan was announced by the Grand Bahama Port Authority which will provide new landscaping, signage, benches, lighting and other enhancements to the downtown area.

In this video you will hear from newly appointed President of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, Ian Rolle as he talks about the three main issues the GBPA will address: vagrancy, police presence, and cosmetic improvements to the buildings.

"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."

Also speaking in this video is Hannas Babak, Chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority. 

"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.

Read a related article HERE