The Tribune

By CHESTER ROBARDS

Tribune Senior Reporter

crobards@tribunemedia.net

HEAD of the I-Group Stephen Roy was “deeply concerned” over last week’s runway crash on Mayaguana that left three people dead, Prime Minister Perry Christie told the media yesterday.

Mr Roy’s company had been charged with upgrading Mayaguana’s airport and runway as part of a development deal struck with the government.

The crash occurred because the island’s runway has no lights and had employed the head and tail lights of private vehicles to guide a plane in at night.

Mr Christie said he spoke to Mr Roy, who ensured him that “they had confidence in Mayaguana” and “that they were doing things in Mayaguana”.

He insisted, however, that the government will light the runway and address unsafe conditions at the airport without waiting for the I-Group move.
“The government of the Bahamas, faced with what the government of the Bahamas is faced with down there, must act,” said Mr Christie.

“And we will, through the minister of transport, take all of the necessary steps to ensure that the best interests of the Bahamian people period – those who live in Mayaguana, those who travel to Mayaguana – is protected.

“We must address the condition of the airport and the condition of lighting at the airport.”
He said he has instructed Minster of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin to move quickly to put Mayaguana’s runway “in the best possible shape”.

“We cannot have our people subjected to a set of circumstances that could bring the kind of result that we had,” Mr Christie said.