The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama Minister Ginger Moxey says $3.7m allocated for a new unit called Collab: Partnerships for Development would bring “impactful change” to her Ministry and Grand Bahama.

She also discloseded that Electra America, the intended buyers of the Grand Lucayan Resort, will contribute an additional $5m to Collab for community development.

Projects that will fall under the new unit are: ‘Recover Grand Bahama,’ ‘Beautiful Grand Bahama,’ and ‘Empower Grand Bahama,’ Minister Moxey said.

“Today, this Ministry for Grand Bahama, my Ministry for Grand Bahama is a Ministry of Innovation and Collaboration,” she said during her contribution to the Budget Communication in the House of Assembly.

She said Collab represents the most significant increase in the 2022/23 Budget.

“Whilst the Collab Unit was provided $3.7m representing 27.6 percent of the overall budget, there is an additional $170,000 for sister city relationship development; $240,000 for marketing and promotion of Grand Bahama Island around the world; $210,000 for small business development; another $150,000 for Grant Funding Development; and $50,000 for the Grand Bahama Humane Society, all totalling $4.5m or 34 percent of the overall budget.

“Not bad for my first attempt to bring impactful change to the Ministry and Grand Bahama Island,” she said.

“I am very proud and excited to be heralding in this innovative, transformational, revolutionary way to define the Ministry for Grand Bahama. It cannot be overemphasised that since the Ministry for Grand Bahama was a new ministry, and government services already existed in Grand Bahama, I believe that there was always a challenge with defining the role of the Ministry. When 43 percent of the budget went to the utilities of other ministries and 82 percent of the budget went to administrative costs, you can see why this perception was widely accepted.”

Ms Moxey said the focus is bringing results by impacting communities and assisting people.

“Before I became Minister for GB, the ministry was a ministry of administration. I am a project manager who focuses on results; getting stuff done and making it happen,” she said.

“The Prime Minister gave the Ministry for Grand Bahama a new mandate considering the ever-perplexing issues, the uniqueness of Grand Bahama, and the devastation caused by the twin-storms Hurricane Dorian and the COVID pandemic,” she explained.

Ms Moxey said the mandate called for partnering with NGOs, businesses, other government agencies and the community at large to assist with the basic needs of residents and the growth and development of Grand Bahama Island.

“It recognises that people are hurting; that people’s lives have been uprooted, that they need assistance; that the NGOs are very important in all of this because they were the ones who came to our rescue when we needed help the most; it recognised the role of the corporate community and the fact that the Ministry is a Ministry that liaises with other ministries to get the job done. And it speaks to what Grand Bahama needs, investment, opportunities, growth, and business development. Based on this mandate, I established COLLAB: Partnerships for Development that will really be the key to making things happen for Grand Bahama Island.”

The Grand Bahama Minister said the unit works on projects together to propel people and communities; it is a body that solves problems, addresses issues, and tackles the difficulties head-on with focused determination and execution for results and action.

Ms Moxey said Collab’s primary goal is to ensure that the vision of the Ministry for Grand Bahama to become the ‘Home of Maritime and Logistics,’ the ‘Home of Events and Entertainment’ and the ‘Home of Innovation’ comes to fruition.

On the new hospital, the minister was pleased that the Davis-Cooper administration would proceed with building a new hospital for GBI.

She said that funding is included in this Budget to capitalise the GB Health Centre Development Company, the entity that will construct the new hospital, with an oncology centre on Grand Bahama.

Ms Moxey stressed that Grand Bahama had needed a new hospital for many years. She recalled the devastation of the Rand Memorial Hospital in 2019 during Hurricane Dorian. The situation, she said, was further compounded by the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic.

“Doctors, nurses, and other medical providers were forced to work in unfavorable conditions. Today, even though repairs were done to the interior of Rand Memorial Hospital, the roof was not repaired,” she said.

Ms Moxey said that with the recent potential tropical cyclone that visited GB over the weekend, the Rand was also greatly affected.

“This was another poorly executed assignment by the previous administration, but the work is in the 2022-23 budget,” she said.

Ms Moxey said that $150m loan would fund construction of the new hospital.

Iram Lewis, MP for Central Grand Bahama, and former Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness, Management, and Reconstruction, said Albacore Construction did the roof repairs to address leaks at the hospital.