A local roadwork firm yesterday announced that it has secured a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Finance for a $50 million series of public-private partnerships (PPP) designed to overhaul the country's road and runway infrastructure.
The Bahamas Striping Group of Companies (BSGC) Managing Director Allen Albury stated that the two proposed PPPs with the government had the potential to generate over 700 jobs over a three-year implementation period should the MOU be signed.
"This means enhanced safety of our aviation infrastructure across the country as well as improving the safety of our road networks. It is a comprehensive approach, one that will bring economic impact to the Family Islands. We will be hiring locals from each island and in each of the islands we're looking at a minimum of 75 persons being hired," said Albury.
The first PPP would renovate 10 family island airport runways to be compliant with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, while the other would maintain family island roads through BSGC's newly promoted Rejuvaseal asphalt product.
Officials from BSGC and their American partners Hi-Lite Global stated that they had received the draft MOU last week and had recently submitted testing data for the product to the Ministry of Works after conducting tests in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. Hi-Lite Airfield Services Director of Business Development for the Caribbean Brad Dunn claimed that the product could extend the longevity of both road and runway pavements upwards of seven years.
"This is a new market for us to do this testing, we're very excited that we had good results for all of the testing and it looks like we're going to get to move forward based on those results," said Dunn.
Hi-Lite Global President John McNeely stressed Hi-Lite's commitment to offering its expertise to train Bahamians in asphalt rejuvenation. Regarding project financing, McNeely noted that the group is in talks with the Eximbank to secure a deal for the PPPs before 2016.
"As the process moves forward, we expect to close this deal before year end. We're really excited about partnering here in The Bahamas," said McNeely.
The project will impact a host of Family Islands including Abaco, Eleuthera, Acklins, and the Exumas.

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