President of The Bahamas Customs Immigration and Allied Workers Union Sloane Smith spoke out yesterday about the “hazardous” working conditions at the Exuma International airport and called on the government to take swift action.

“You can’t have officers in a trailer setting where you can smell the burning wires because the equipment itself is old,” Smith said.

“You can’t have the officers functioning in an environment where the smoke is there as a consequence of the burning and there are holes in the floors.”

Smith said that on July 19, the septic system at Exuma’s International Airport overflowed, once again prompting officers to conduct processing of passengers on the outside of the airport at a makeshift station.

“An impromptu makeshift processing area meant that no security was in place as passengers lined up on the [outside] and flanked officers for processing without any form of control,” he said.

Smith added that during this time officers had no access to computers to conduct screening of stop or restricted lists which created high security concerns.

“There has to be some contingency that is acceptable that allows officers to work in a clean environment, a healthy environment, a safe environment and simultaneously assist our guests once they arrive,” he said.

Smith further explained that when more than 200 guests from American Airlines, Air Canada and Silver Air were admitted under these conditions, several comments were made as to the makeshift process being unprofessional and simply “ghetto.”

“That just cuts to the core of what we as a tourist destination ought to be,” Smith said.

The union president claimed that the government has been made fully aware of the situation in Exuma.

He said they have visited and toured the facility and made promises for change but have yet to do anything to that effect.

“We are aware that the government operates through some constraints but we wish to simply work along with the government, but they have to help us, they have to meet us half way,” Smith said.

“We should not have to have a recurrence of this a month from now.

“Should it happen we can not guarantee that our members would allow themselves to be subject to that again.”

During her contribution to the 2015/2016 Budget Debate, Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin said that the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and the Ministry of Works hope to break ground on the construction of a revamped Exuma International Airport by the first quarter of 2016. Hanna-Martin said conceptual designs for the facility are currently being developed in tandem with the Christie administration’s “master plan” for Exuma.

“Tender for construction will be facilitated by the Ministry of Works and we believe, all things being equal and if the winds are favorable, we will be able to break ground for the new Exuma International Airport by early next year within the first quarter of 2016,” said Hanna-Martin.

The move is part of the master plan for the redevelopment of The Bahamas’ 28 government-managed airports. However, Hanna-Martin acknowledged that the government found itself in a bind given the cost of necessary improvements to the country’s air facilities. Consequently, Hanna-Martin called for considerable resources to repair or upgrade existing facilities to, in turn, stimulate Family Island economies.