Nassau, The Bahamas – The Hon. Philip Davis, Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Works and Urban Development highlighted
infrastructural initiatives in his mid-year budget presentation to
Parliamentarians in the House of Assembly, February 25.
Among the initiatives is the implementation of a road
maintenance and management system, a part of the strengthening component of the
New Providence Infrastructure Improvement Programme, advocated and funded by
the Inter-American Development Bank.
According to Minister Davis, “this approach has been
partially effected by a strategically realigned procurement practice, awarding
relatively small contracts on a local area-by-area basis, thus ensuring good
deployment of local resources and ensuring that small to medium-sized
contractors are offered diverse employment opportunities.”
He noted that a similar approach has been adopted for
maintenance of cemeteries where 30 relatively small, new contracts were
recently issued. Fifteen contracts were also granted for maintenance of
standpipes and wells on behalf of Water and Sewerage Corporation.
“Given the fact that my Ministry saved considerable funds
in other areas, we were able to divert funds to sidewalk construction targeting
delivery of approximately $2 million of contracts let in numerous small
contracts before the end of the final quarter of this year.
“All of these initiatives signal a move away from larger
agglomerated contracts to smaller disaggregated contracts which offer wider
employment opportunities,” added the Works Minister.
Minister Davis remarked that the Big Pond Park Development
Project, which is in conjunction with the New Providence Road Improvement
Project, is being restored and protected as an urban open space as an offset
for negative impacts incurred by road construction.
He explained that the plan to develop the park was
completed in 2001 and in 2014, Cabinet approved a $3.8 million contract to
undertake Phase IB and authorized BEST Commission to provide oversight of the
environmental concerns related to the works.
In October 2014, the Ministry of Works and Urban
Development in partnership with the Department of Environmental Health
Services, BEST Commission, Department of Public Health, and Water &
Sewerage Corporation held a Town Meeting to address environmental concerns,
promote the use of the park as a venue for enterprise and to advise residents
of neighbouring communities against water activities at the park.
“Anyone passing by can see the already resplendent beauty
of the park in the heart of our urban community. We look forward to its
official opening,” he said.
The projected completion date is March 2015.