Despite the uproar that occurred as a result of the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP), head contractor Mariano Aranibar revealed earlier this week that the Ingraham administration insisted the project move forward.
However, he stressed that the government took full responsibility for the public outrage which began in earnest a few years ago when a decision was made to make sections of Baillou Hill Road and Market Street one-way thoroughfares, which eventually led to several road closures.
"Some people asked why [we] didn't do it little by little instead of all together," Aranibar said during an interview with The Nassau Guardian on Tuesday. "The Ministry of Works had to reply. They wanted to do a large amount of work that they didn't do in the last 15 to 20 years. So if they did the work little by little, it would take another 15 to 20 years. And they said the roads were too messy, the roads needed an update, communities were developing, businesses were opening, and the [number] of people buying cars here was incredibly high.
"So they didn't want to wait. They wanted to do it altogether even assuming that there would have been some impacts. That understanding was clear at the beginning. So we all went on the same page and knowing that there would be a lot of public complaints."
As a result of that decision, Aranibar said the contracted company, Jose Cartellone Construcciones Civiles (JCCC), opened a traffic management operation to deal with the people who had concerns.
He said the Ministry of Works also established a public relations office to handle complaints related to the road works. He added that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which funded the bulk of the project, also requested that the contractor engage in a public relations effort.
"So at that point, the project was more about the public perception than the actual works because I understand it's public works with public money so all of that needs to be addressed with the public," Aranibar said.
Aranibar noted that the complaints began to roll in during January 2010 when work on Baillou Hill Road started.
He said he was forced to close the roads because of the heavy traffic on that street.
"The people started complaining and got concerns to Ministry of Works. The Ministry of Works is a public authority so they had a responsibility to the public, so they had to send the pressure to us at the same time," he said.
The Coconut Grove Business League, a group of around 50 businesses in the southern area of those streets, took the former administration to court in a bid to receive compensation from the government for hardship brought on by the NPRIP.
Aranibar said when he released the schedule of which roads would be closed and for what period of time, some workers predicted that it would pose a problem.
"We had several meetings. Even at one time the Cabinet called us in. That was the first time in my life I had to brief a Cabinet of a country because they were really concerned," Aranibar said.
And while he said he joked that he became public enemy number one as a result of the road works, Aranibar said the government's decision to forge ahead with the works was a good one.
"The most important decision the government made was not to stop the works to mitigate the public perception. They decided to carry on and take the responsibility. And that's the only reason why the project is finished because at the very first moment when the problem came up the government was determined to do the project as it was planned," he said.
He acknowledged the anguish that some residents and businesses went through as a result of the road closures.
"At one point there was a bad time where people couldn't actually drive anywhere," he said, adding that Bahamians can now move around freely.
"We are very proud of how the roads look. We can see the difference in every single area where the work was done. We saw it when we came and we see it now. We see order in traffic. There are people walking on the sidewalks... The main thing is people can walk on a dry path when walking to the bus stop or walking to school, without having to walk on the road which is unsafe. Now the roads are for cars and the sidewalks are for pedestrians."

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