Two new restaurants are slated to open at the Lucayan Harbour Cruise Facility in the coming months that will generate up to 60 new jobs.
The Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) is banking on Senor Frog's and Sparky's providing a much-needed spark in entrepreneurial activity. Stakeholders also hope it will reduce the island's sizeable unemployment rate of more than 21 percent.
Senor Frog's, a popular Mexican company, will invest appropriately $500,000 in the new restaurant. Sparky's, meanwhile, is being funded by a local investor, but the level of investment is presently unknown.
President of the GBPA, Ian Rolle, estimates 40 jobs through Senor Frog's and another 15 to 20 from Sparky's.
"The significance of this is once they see the activity that is going to be caused by these two investments, others will want to follow suit," he said.
"We have great numbers coming to Grand Bahama and not enough people are taking advantage of it."
In fact, more than 1.2 million cruise passengers are expected to set foot on the island this year, with several cruise companies upping stopovers to the fuel-efficient destination.
The GBPA and local players are trying to encourage more investment in the island to capitalize on this traffic.
The Senor Frog's announcement comes despite a pull out by Jamie Dingman, the son of well-known investor and businessman Michael Dingman, who had planned a development for the Port Lucaya Marketplace late last year.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Dingman "got fed up and pulled out" after terms of the contract were changed at the time of signing.
It was widely believed that Senor Frog's was a major component of this development.
At the time, Rolle told Guardian Business "there is more than one group vying for spaces".
That statement may prove to be accurate considering recent developments.
A number of other projects have been revealed by the GBPA for this year. Two waste treatment facilities are planned for the next six months, Rolle explained. Two European companies will provide waste services that further complement the island's already robust ship-building and maintenance yard.
A ship dismantling yard is also been planned.
These three projects are expected to generate jobs for Bahamians as well, according to Rolle.
But perhaps the most exciting project on the burner this year is the signing and construction of a waste-energy power plant.
While Rolle couldn't disclose the name of the company quite yet, he anticipated construction of a $100 million facility should begin by the first quarter of next year. Stakeholders are "satisfied" with the technology, he added, and the two sides are now agreeing to a power-purchase agreement to provide electricity for general public use.
"We're trying to lead our economy to get off fossil fuels," he explained.
"We cannot control the price of fuel and it's very difficult to contain energy costs. Our job is to look at alternative ways to reduce these costs."

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