By INDERIA SAUNDERS, Guardian Business Desk, Inderia@nasguard.com

Even before the container port is moved, before replacement plans for those empty spaces are announced, local activist Sam Duncombe is calling for assurances Bahamians will have access to the coastline that hugs that strip of land. She argues the public needs to be informed of construction plans before they're even been formalized. While current government regulations afford some protections, specifically around the height of buildings, Duncombe is calling on the administration to ensure business plans for the redevelopment of the commercial port sites allow for resident access to the water.

"I think there should be coastline areas that are accessible to the coastline," said the environmentalist. "There is a lot of private property there, but some plans actually include a board walk right there straight from the bridge to Arawak Cay."

However, to avoid any confusion with any Bahamians who might have other ideas concerning the redevelopment plans, Duncombe argues the government should hold a town meeting to keep the public abreast of plans to redevelop this country's premier commercial hub.

That would also allow a government-appointed Bay Street development committee to canvass opinions.

"The whole thing needs to be open to the public, not to a handful of people, as was done in the past," she said.

As it is now, many development plans for that area are unknown.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has indicated on separate occasions that the port will be relocated, likely to a new terminal at Arawak Cay. However, the proposal to move the container port has not been tabled in the House of Assembly although funding, at least in part, is expected to come from shipping giant MSC or its rival Tropical.

The relocation to Arawak Cay is billed as a cost effective alternative to moving the facility to Clifton Pier.

Members of the business community continue to argue that the current port location on East Bay Street has brought down the area.

They point to 30 retail stores having closing their doors in the last five years because of sluggish consumer traffic and the constant flow of trucks carting away goods.

Once that trade is moved off Bay street, the owners of the ports are likely to redevelop their properties into tourism and residential properties.

Charles Klonaris, the Nassau Tourism and Development Board chairman, is already working to transform the strip's Moses Plaza, opposite the Bay Street-Elizabeth Avenue junction. His family development team aims to create "an oasis in that area".

Casting the contain port land into a similar idyllic mold will require real public input, cautions Duncombe.