Noting that "the renaissance of the historic city of Nassau has been overdue", Prime Minister Perry Christie yesterday said at the unveiling of a project design proposed to regenerate and remodel Nassau represents the first step in the formation of creative and innovative solutions to the problems of an urban city environment.
Led by urban planning consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank Roland Krebs, students and faculty at the Urban Design Department of the Technology University of Vienna and the School of Architecture of The College of The Bahamas, together conducted numerous studies costing some $1.1 million that sought to find the most dominant issues of Over-the-Hill areas in the capital.
After discovering the issues, the team put together a plan to lead to a "Sustainable Nassau".
Among the concerns discovered, the team found a "desolated West Bay Street that allowed for a playground for crime, too far a distance between major historical sites and the ocean and a lack of true Bahamian culture in the heart of the city".
Christie said the remodeling of Nassau would assist the country by eradicating those issues and allowing the country to attract international attention for the right reasons.
"Like the 2040 National Development Plan, this initiative is dependent on the participation and input of Bahamians," he said.
"It is critical that we reflect on who we are as a people and what is important to us. We must consider where we want to go in the future and plot a course to get there.
"The city we are building must be one that is alive, with exciting cultural activities, opportunities for wealth creation for our young people, and hubs for creativity and innovation so that the country will retain the local talent needed to grow our economy.
"It is also through the initiative for economic sustainability that The Bahamas will continue to attract the international resources we need for our country to thrive."
Christie said the plan provides a picture of a redeveloped Nassau, "A vibrant historic cultural city, where everyone is welcomed and feels a part of the city and has access to the best in services and infrastructure.
"An energetic city by day and night."
Krebs said though expensive, if the government decides to follow through with the plan, it would be worth it.
"We came up with an urban strategy to relink the historically classed areas with downtown on three corridors which is East Street, Market Street and Baillou Hill Road and we want to have specific projects to intensify and repopulate the area with accessible housing," said Krebs.
"We will rejuvenate the center Nassau area. We are dealing with crime, we are dealing with people not having jobs and by recognizing culture, we [want to] regenerate the area.
"I think it would take at least two to five years to see some impact in this project because urban planning projects tend to have a long, long development period so the project cycles are very long and we have to partner with the private sector to include them and partner up for the implementation.
"It's very expensive, but compared to the social and economic impact it is relatively cheap.
"If you have people killing themselves in the street and you have shootings and disorder, it costs a lot of money.
"If you have a lot of organized community, if people are treated better and have a better way of life, there will be no violence there."
So far, the plan is only a proposal to the Bahamian government.
Krebs said by the end of the year, a decision is expected to be made as to what projects will begin and when.
While giving his remarks yesterday, Christie said the plan will not sit on a shelf and never see the light of day. He said the plan will be "available to the public so that we can always keep sight of where we want to go and the steps we must take to get there".

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