The long-awaited transformation of historic Nassau moved a step closer to reality this week with a single newspaper ad: a job opening for a managing director for the Arawak Port Development Company.

"The search for a managing director for the new shipping facility means the long-awaited move of container shipping out of downtown Nassau is becoming reality," said Vaughn Roberts, managing director of the Downtown Nassau Partnership, the interim public-private sector organisation charged with steering the revitalization of the nation's busy capital. "Moving container shipping off Bay Street has the capacity to swiftly alter the landscape of historic Nassau, opening up vast waterfront spaces that are ideal for re-development and freeing the roads from the fumes and delays of large 40-foot tractor trailers. Bay Street and the side streets were never built to handle that traffic that has grown by necessity to keep up with demand for imported goods. Moving acres of containers, hundreds of trucks and all the supporting infrastructure required for container shipping, including individual Customs offices, out of the heart of Nassau will be the equivalent of unclogging the arteries. In this case, it will be the heart of a nation that will freed up to beat more healthy."

For more than 20 years, architects, downtown businesses, investors and urban planners have urged successive governments to relocate container shipping, alleviating traffic from the street and the waterfront from two and three storey high blocks of stored containers. Arawak Cay was selected and work has been progressing steadily with a move-in date set for the first quarter of 2011. A consortium of shipping interests will operate the facility with 40% of the shares held by government and another 20% to be made available during an initial public offering. Roberts also noted that the public/private sector partnership used on the new port is an excellent model for wider participation by the public in important industries in The Bahamas. “We can certainly draw on this and other innovative structures for the Downtown Revitalization Project,” he continued.

"With the millions of words and the hundreds of ideas that have been poured into efforts and plans to revitalize downtown Nassau, relocating shipping is the single most significant contribution to the physical transformation," said Roberts. "The Downtown Nassau Partnership and all the key stakeholders as well as those who treasure the historic heritage of this city are excited that it is nearing reality."

The DNP is co-chaired by Tourism Director General Vernice Walkine and businessman Charles Klonaris. It is made up of an 11-member board representing a cross-section of senior government officials, businesspersons and professionals.