GRAND BAHAMA – Residents of Grand Bahama can look forward to millions of dollars in capital works projects this year, Prime Minister the Most Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis said today as he officially opened the new $9.2 million Fishing Hole Road Causeway.
The Fishing Hole Road Causeway connects West and East Grand Bahama Island and is the main access route between the West Grand Bahama communities and Freeport Harbour.
For years the causeway has been plagued with devastating storm surges which resulted in large sections of the road being washed away, making daily commuting an unbearable challenge for motorists, said Prime Minister Minnis.
“Today, I am pleased that residents now have a modern designed, resilient, concrete Trestle Bridge, spanning 900ft across the Hawksbill creek with a life span of 50 years, sitting 12 feet above the mean sea level, and able to withstand hurricanes up to category 5 intensity,” the Prime Minister said.
In addition to the new causeway, Prime Minister Minnis noted that work continues to progress on the Rand Memorial Hospital.
The Government has allocated $21 million for improvements to the Rand Memorial Hospital, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019.
Following the causeway opening ceremony, the Prime Minister toured the Rand Memorial Hospital construction site and met with the hospital’s senior doctors at the Office of the Prime Minister in Grand Bahama.
The Prime Minister said that work has already started on 15 government schools at a cost of $4.5 million, which is one of the largest school restoration projects.
“We will continue the Government’s small home repair program that has in five months approved approximately 2,000 residents and distributed over $3 million,” said Prime Minister Minnis.
Work on the Mclean’s Town Administration building and the Ministry of Agriculture building in downtown Freeport has been approved by the Government.
The Ministry of Works will begin a major renovation of the Post Office and a major road restoration project in East, Central and West Grand Bahama.
“We are also committed to finding a long-term solution for the Grand Bahama International Airport,” said the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Minnis took the opportunity to commend residents for their compliance with the COVID-19 health measures, which has resulted in the containment of the number of cases to eight on island.
It has been more than 40 days since a confirmed case of COVID-19 has been recorded on Grand Bahama.