Baha Mar has this week upped to 600 its Bahamian workforce on the new re-routed West Bay Street and commercial village project, as it makes a final push to complete the new road and its environs by mid-November, according to Senior Vice President Robert Sands.
The men worked in the rain on Saturday and Sunday, and the beehive of activity continued yesterday as a new Cable Beach strip continued to take shape.
Thousands of conch shells have been laid on new roundabouts.  Road paving continued yesterday, as did work on a new straw and craft market along the strip and a new entrance to the Sheraton Resort.
"This is our final push to complete the work on the commercial village and the new West Bay Street, which we hope to complete by mid-November in totality," Sands told The Nassau Guardian at the site yesterday.
"So what you're seeing here is the culmination of that push."
Borrowing a quote from another Baha Mar executive, Sands said the company is essentially now "putting the jewelry on the bride" as it relates to the roadwork element of its $2.6 billion project.
The entire Cable Beach strip was crawling with construction workers yesterday, but traffic still flowed smoothly as motorists were directed around the work.
Sands said what was being experienced was "indicative of the energy that has gone into this project in helping us to meet this significant milestone."
"This week alone, we exceeded the labor count of 600 persons who have been involved in this project over the last week in getting all of this done and completed," he said.
"Just think about it.  Six hundred Bahamians at work, doing multiple jobs, from construction to irrigation, to landscaping, to putting in walking [trails], benches, installing lamp posts, a multiplicity of work that's being one."
Baha Mar has also had the support of government corporations and Cable Bahamas in ensuring utilities are properly coordinated.
"This has been one huge cooperative arrangement with multiple government agencies [and] private contractors at Baha Mar, with Baha Mar management and oversight," Sands said.
"What you see here is the personification of pulling together and teamwork and making this reality."
As part of its commercial village, Baha Mar has already constructed a new Commonwealth Bank, Scotiabank, Fidelity Bank and a police and fire station.
Additionally, a new jogging trail has also been created, and the Hobby Horse Hall Pond on the Baha Mar site preserved.
"What you're seeing is the tip of the iceberg," Sands said.
"I think once the Bahamian public sees what's behind this road and the connection to this particular roundabout (at the Sheraton Resort), there will certainly be a wow effect.
"I think that they will be very pleasantly surprised by what Baha Mar is delivering with this new, re-routed West Bay Street."
Baha Mar's investment has exceeded $100 million on the current phase of work to date, according to Sands.

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