The Tribune

• Newly-unveiled IDB report urges two-decade effort

• Says $362m from Gov’t, $88m from private sector

• New Providence population to jump 100k by 2045

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Transforming Nassau and wider New Providence into a truly resilient, sustainable island demands a $450m investment spread over a 20-year period, a newly-released Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report has revealed.

The Sustainable Nassau Action Plan, unveiled yesterday, identifies ten “priority” projects - ranging from climate change resilience, energy reform and a “zero waste” city through to urban regeneration, planning and digital connectivity - as vital to enabling New Providence to sustain a further population explosion that is forecast to grow the island’s inhabitants by another 100,000 persons come 2045.

The 78-page document, which has been seen by Tribune Business, says most of the required investment - some $362m or just over 80 percent - should be public, meaning it is derived from the Government and Bahamian taxpayers. The remaining $88m balance would originate from the private sector.

Financing the Government’s share will be a tall order given the fiscal and debt crisis, which has only been made worse by Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic, but the report recommends spreading the investment out over two decades to reduce demands on both the public purse and corporate Bahamas.

“The estimated total cost of all proposed actions in this plan would amount to $7 million in necessary pre-investment studies and $450m in investment projects, which can be expensed over a period of 17-20 years,” the IDB said. “These total cost estimates have also been prioritised as short, medium and long-term, considering limitations on fiscal resources and suggesting a relative urgency and possible sequencing.”

Short-term priorities included making Nassau a “zero waste” via enhanced recycling, waste management and improvements at the island’s landfill (now the New Providence Ecology Park), upon which the report placed a total price tag of $34m.

Other immediate goals listed were $57m for reviving downtown Nassau/Bay Street and the Grants Town area, and some $52m to overhaul public transportation through long-awaited reform of the jitney system and “disincentives” for private car use via ride sharing and car pooling.

The Sustainable Nassau Action Plan set out as medium term goals the creation of “Healthy City Nassau” through an $80m spend on improved water and sewerage system, and conservation of green spaces. Establishing a local government structure for Nassau/New Providence, “smart city monitoring” via the use of technology to control traffic signals and lights, and control crime, and empowering Bahamian citizens also fell into this category.

Finally, over the long-term, the IDB report recommends a $13m investment in energy efficiency relating to street lights and public (government) buildings, as well as the crafting of a New Providence land use and development master plan. This would also involve creating “a new land administration system, establish land and property regulations and local tax incentives for better city land development”.

Climate change, growing social and economic inequalities and lack of proper infrastructure and planning made urgent reform and action imperative, the Sustainable Nassau Action Plan said, and that was before the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many of these challenges.

Pointing to ever-increasing population challenges, as more Bahamians migrate to New Providence in search of work, the report added: “In just 15 years (2000-2015), the New Providence population increased by nearly 27 percent. ESC (emerging and sustainable cities) population growth models project that New Providence will continue growing, increasing 19 percent in the 2015-2030 period and increasing another 15 percent from 2030 to 2045.....

“As compared to other Bahamian islands, New Providence is quite small despite being the most populous with an estimated 270,000 inhabitants - more than 70 percent of the national population. The population of New Providence is predicted to further increase by another 100,000 inhabitants over the next 28 years with its share of the total population increasing from 70 percent to almost 80 percent.”

This poses a further threat to The Bahamas’ sustainable growth and resilience, with the country exhibiting “a comparatively high rate of income inequality” that will only have become wider due to the debilitating effects of COVID-19.

Summing up its findings, the IDB said: “The way ahead is not an easy one for Nassau. The prospect for positive change is great, yet the urban sustainability challenges remain and will require commitment from the Government and citizens to be surmounted. This Action Plan serves as a guide through the obstacles ahead and shows how Nassau can grow and flourish in a more sustainable and inclusive way.”

No date was placed on the IDB report, which was aided by the involvement and feedback of multiple government agencies and private sector groups, including the Downtown Nassau Partnership (DNP) and the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC). It appears to have been crafted during the period 2016-2017, overlapping the Christie and Minnis administrations, but has never been publicly disclosed before.

In many ways, though, its findings and recommendations are more relevant than ever given the greater inequalities in income, education and living standards sparked by the pandemic. Few, if any, of the projects and plans detailed have been initiated in a meaningful way, which in some respects is no surprise given that the past two-and-a-half years have been dominated by coping with the devastating fall-out from Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19.

The Sustainable Nassau Action Plan’s disclosure is also timely given the Davis administration’s intent, as unveiled recently by Chester Chester, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investment and aviation, to revive the city of Nassau. He said Bay Street and the surrounding areas “must “become the calling card of The Bahamas, not continue to be a point of national shame”, warning that the Government would not wait for property owners to keep up.

The Sustainable Nassau Action Plan acknowledged that past proposals for resolving downtown’s woes, such as the 2006 EDAW recommendations, had never come close to being implemented. “Currently there is no zoning and development plan in place,” the report said. “The public sector is not leading, but rather reacting to private initiatives for urban development without leveraging public interest and validating the integrity of interventions.”

It added that Nassau’s transition “into the widely-sprawled city of today”, with former residents relocating to the suburbs and commercial uses rapidly evolving - the shipping industry departing to Arawak Cay and many banks heading to New Providence - had left “an area that transformed into a mono-functional and often derelict centre with little residential use”.

Pointing to the disconnect between the city of Nassau and its waterfront, the IDB report added: “Currently, the sea coast is unattractive and a ‘backdoor’ of the city that is inaccessible to residents. The existing downtown waterfront, Woodes Rodgers Walk, is very short (approximately 1,300 feet long) and caters to mass tourism - mostly cruise ship visitors bringing little revenue to the city.

“The city is lacking a system of connected public spaces, making it unattractive to walk in the central area. Narrow sidewalks are challenging for pedestrians, and the traditional cantilevers and arcades are disappearing due to inadequate building codes and weak enforcement.

“Important intersections and public spaces, like parks and plazas, could be better utilised for economic activities with a high frequency of clients, as is the case for Pompey Square. Shaded pedestrian walkways connecting a sequence of plazas every 660 feet would not only make it more appealing to walk through Downtown Nassau, but would also create spaces that promote the interaction of neighbours, tourists and locals.”

The $300m Nassau Cruise Port investment is intended as a catalyst to spark some of these changes. The Sustainable Nassau Action Plan, though, calls for “the creation of flexible commercial rental spaces for diverse types of vendors and other small businesses.. as an important element of any Downtown Nassau revitalisation effort necessary to expand the local economy.

“An emphasis on the revitalisation of ‘Historic Nassau’ is also needed, and the designation of a formal historic district could be useful for guiding development in the area through special building guidelines and protections,” the report continued. 

“A Grants Town-Bain Town neighbourhood revitalisation effort could introduce significant improvements to housing, public services and community spaces and buildings. Historic buildings could be rehabilitated, as well as those representing traditional architectural styles and heritage value.”

Noting the absence of planning, the Sustainable Nassau Action Plan added: “The city’s lack of an urban master plan is perhaps most evident in downtown Nassau. A proposed project to address these shortcomings includes introducing a land development plan for New Providence that will assign coherent land uses to specific areas, while preserving vulnerable natural assets such as beaches, parks and other public spaces.

“One component of this project envisions strengthening land management through a Geographic Information System (GIS) that would allow for better collection, storage, analysis and use of land data that can improve decision-making for the development of the island.”