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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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Media blitz launched against downtown container port relocation By JUAN MCCARTNEY ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ juan@nasguard: A committee headed by Senator Jerome Fitzgerald has launched an all-out media blitz designed to prevent the government from relocating the downtown container port to Arawak Cay. Two 45-second radio commercials featuring Fitzgerald and Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) national deputy chairman Kenred Dorsett began airing on "all of the major radio stations" in The Bahamas yesterday. Fitzgerald, who heads 'The Committee to Protect and Preserve The Bahamas for Future Generations', told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that the commercials will air throughout the month of July and a television commercial campaign as well as other public information efforts will follow. "It's going to ultimately culminate in a town hall meeting where we will invite all concerned citizens and we expect anywhere from 400 to 1,000 people," Fitzgerald said. One of the commercials begins with Dorsett's voice booming: "The proposed container port at Arawak Cay would be a crime against nature if allowed, causing destruction of our beaches and loss of property value. "Don't let such an important decision be made without your approval. Don't allow the whims of a few politicians and special interest groups to decide what happens in your neighborhood. Take a stand and say enough is enough. " Fitzgerald appears on the commercials after Dorsett, urging Bahamians to join the group's cause. Yesterday he said that he has no intention of letting the government get away with placing the port at Arawak Cay without first obtaining a public consensus. "As I move around I find that this issue is of such paramount importance and people are expressing extreme concern about it. They don't like the way the government is handling this and there is an air of secrecy that surrounds the whole affair," Fitzgerald said. "You have no one in the government who is able to speak out on the issue. Those who are involved in the development cannot speak out on it. It just appears as if the prime minister [Hubert Ingraham] has put a gag order on all persons concerned. And something that's as important as this, something where there should be accountability and transparency for all to see and understand what is going on, it appears as if they are trying to sneak this in under a cloud of darkness hoping that no one will know before it is too late. But as I said before I am committed to ensuring that the Bahamian people have all the facts concerning this. This is just the first stage." Fitzgerald has been railing against the government's plans to relocate the container port at Arawak Cay for months. In his contribution to debate on the 2009/2010 budget in the Upper Chamber last week, Fitzgerald pointed out that no environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the container port's move to Arawak Cay has been publicly presented. Fitzgerald previously called the decision to actually go ahead with the move "foolhardy and boneheaded". During his contribution last week, Fitzgerald tabled a site plan for the proposed 1,500 extension of Arawak Cay along the shore of West Bay Street. The extension is part of a larger plan the government recently put in place to transform the City of Nassau. "I understand that this extension is to be connected to Nassau by some causeway between Perpall Tract and the Shell gas station on West Bay Street," Fitzgerald said. "This extension will come out almost to where the old Zoo nightclub was, into the harbor from West Bay Street. This is what this government plans to do. This is the foolishness that they are doing. When you drive past there you will see an area filled with containers and can you imagine seeing this out there? We have options and we need to plan accordingly, and that's what we did. Under the PLP government we planned accordingly." The Guardian recently confirmed a $150 million proposal by a Bahamian conglomerate to construct a new port at Arawak Cay and a massive commercial distribution center at a Gladstone Road location is making the rounds in the Office of the Prime Minister and might soon be sent to cabinet for approval. The proposal, which The Guardian confirmed is the only one currently being considered, and negotiations between the group proposing the relocation and the government are reportedly still ongoing. The proposal calls for all the major shipping companies along Bay Street from East Street to Armstrong Street to be relocated to Arawak Cay and completely cease operations in downtown Nassau. The Arawak Cay Port would become a drop-off and pick up point for the shipping containers, if the proposal is approved. From Arawak Cay containers would be transported during off-peak hours along a route that travels west to the Gladstone Road site the proposal refers to as an 'inland port'. That 'inland port' would be a 50-acre site that would house separate facilities for every shipping company that currently exists on Bay Street, as well as facilities for the Department of Customs. The $150 million project would be funded and managed entirely by the private conglomerate: The Arawak Cay Port Development Company (ACPDC). The ACPDC is a group that is reportedly comprised of about 20 Bahamian companies that include Betty K, Abaco Shipping and Mosko Construction. Friday, July 3, 2009