Prime Minister Perry Christie announced yesterday that the billion-dollar Albany development in southwest New Providence will create 650 new jobs over the next 18 months. Christie made the announcement before participating in the groundbreaking for three new marina residences at Albany that will cost $120 million to construct.
However, he did not specify what kind of jobs will be created. "What is most interesting during these challenging economic times is that Albany continues to be successful in selling units which range from $2 million to over $20 million," Christie said. "The sales success that Albany has experienced is also a resilient validation of our wonderful country and its international appeal.
"The impact of this $1.3 billion project goes far beyond Albany with a multiplier effect in the Bahamian community. The rich and famous of the world who will find haven at Albany, will also be exposed to the rest of The Bahamas." The marina residences started yesterday will be the first three of 10 that will collectively cost $400 million, Christie said. Total employment from the marina residences will peak above 1,000 as the other buildings are developed, Christie said.
Albany currently employs 275 permanent employees and 250 construction workers, according to Christopher Anand, managing partner at Albany. Anand noted that the addition of 650 jobs will push the employment count to around 1,200. He said the majority of those jobs will be filled by Bahamians.
"One of the things that the prime minister and I agreed to over seven and half years ago was that we were committed to hiring Bahamian people -- not only Bahamian people to build Albany, but Bahamian people to operate Albany," Anand said. According to the Department of Statistics' labor force survey conducted in November 2011 and released earlier this year, unemployment in The Bahamas stood at 15.9 percent.
The survey found that unemployment on New Providence was 15.1 percent and 21.2 percent in Grand Bahama. Minister of Labour Shane Gibson said Albany's expanding employment opportunities is good news for Bahamians. "When you have a project like this coming on stream it is significant in that you have literally 40,000 to 50,000 Bahamians unemployed at this time," he said.
"Personally, this is a joy for me because on a weekly basis you literally have hundreds of people who approach you seeking employment and they are genuinely out of work, so as we are able to cause more of these projects to come on stream we look forward to them starting." Albany is a luxury resort community that opened in late 2010 and is jointly owned by Tavistock Group, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els. It also features a world-class marina. The resort community was in the works from 2005, according to Anand. It withstood a change in government and the 2008 world economic financial crisis.
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