Just under one year out from the targeted opening date, Baha Mar is continuing to "progress and achieve its milestones", according to an executive, even as the company anticipates bringing in a further 500 foreign laborers to finish work on the project.
Providing an update on the status and impact of the mega-development, Baha Mar Senior Vice President of Administration and External Affairs Robert Sands said that since construction began in February 2011 "over $600 million worth of work" has been put out to bid to Bahamian firms, and over $300 million awarded - a "huge achievement", he said.
2,600 jobs have been created for Bahamians, including 155 full time employees to date.
3,000 work permits have been granted by the government; less than the amount first projected to be needed.
Sands said that as the development ramps up into the final stages of completion, the number of foreign laborers is "expected to peak by the first and second quarters", reaching an estimated 3,500, before beginning to decrease.
These workers will be undertaking finishing and "very specialized work", said the senior executive, and will be drafted in to ensure "we have the requisite manpower to meet the deadlines for December 2014".
To date, $160 million in further work expected to be awarded to Bahamian firms is "still under negotiation", said the senior vice president.
Over the course of the next year, the development expects to hire 4,000 permanent hotel workers, 3,000 shy of the 7,000 that will be needed once the "total employment and stabilization" of the resort is achieved, he explained.
Among the works still to be undertaken at the resort, scheduled to open on December 2014, include a "significant amount" of external work, such as pools, a beach sanctuary and an entry lake, which Sands described as "very major" projects.
The "closing up" of the hotels is making "good progress", said Sands, while the golf course and accompanying club house are "coming to completion".
A generator farm, waste water treatment plant and BEC substations have already been completed, while still to be established or undertaken are a laundry facility, warehouses, the installation of telecommunications infrastructure, the final phase of the beach renourishment project and the 70-acre nature preserve, said Sands.
"We are very satisfied that the goals, aspirations and vision established by our principals are in fact being achieved and will in fact come to reality come December 2014. We are committed to being that transformative project that will help The Bahamas become the iconic tourism destination once again and we believe we are well on the way. Certainly our brand leadership is in place and they are working hard to ensure we all achieve greatness by the time we open," said Sands.
Sands pointed to the "topping off" - an event celebrating the completion of construction of the hotels to their highest vertical point - in February 2013 as a major milestone that signified the development being "fifty percent complete".
Other works completed to date include the opening of the new corridor seven, Baha Mar Boulevard, coastal defense works, the Skyline substation and the establishment of a central utilities plant.
On the hiring front, Sands pointed to the outreach to an estimated 6,000 professionals and students in The Bahamas and abroad by Baha Mar recruiters, and the over 9,000 resumes in the Baha Mar database to date as a sign that the resort is progressing towards a goal of hiring 4,000 permanent staff in 2014 - just under 60 percent of the estimated total that will be required.
These staff will be brought on "as needed" throughout the year, said Sands, with this dictated by operational requirements on the part of the individual hotels.
"The two opportunities that are ahead are to ensure we complete the project in December 2014, and we have no doubt that we will; and our second opportunity will be as we expand our employee base from its current levels while keeping this Baha Mar culture intact, and then being in a position to deliver world class service to our many new customers that will come to our shores."
Many are pinning hopes of a modest economic recovery in 2014, which would strengthen in 2015, on the completion and opening of Baha Mar by its scheduled December 31, 2014 start date.
Hopes are that the additional permanent employment stimulated will boost consumer demand, and start to alleviate the persistently high levels of non-performing loans, which have in turn dampened banks' taste for lending.
In November, Nassau Container Port CEO Mike Maura Jr., elaborating on results in the company's annual report for 2013, told Guardian Business that the amount of imports associated with Baha Mar were "less than half" of that anticipated by the port based on discussions with those working on the project.
Maura said that the port had been advised "for well over a year" to expect an influx of imports associated with the project, but this had yet to materialize.
"What has happened is that the container volumes have been less than half and the majority of project-related cargo has been bulk aggregate and cement" rather than furniture and fittings and other more high value types of imports, said Maura.
The CEO said that given that Baha Mar continues to promote a December 31, 2014 opening, he expected a "huge surge" of imports this year.
Commenting on Maura's statements on Friday, Sands said that the lower volume of imports could relate to the fact that a "significant amount of Bahamian product" has been utilized in the construction to date.
"Every single block in that building was manufactured locally in The Bahamas. For the concrete work, we have our own batching plant here in the country. As we move closer to opening the importation of the finished type materials will accelerate greatly. The estimated value of the goods anticipated (to be imported) will be realized," added Sands.

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