The multimillion-dollar Lynden Pindling International Airport redevelopment project is a key factor in the government's effort to reclaim the country's spot as one of the premier tourism destinations, Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday.
Cabinet ministers toured phase two of the project yesterday morning.
"This is just a part of an overall vision to complete the tourism product on the island of New Providence," said Christie at the end of the 30-minute tour.
Pointing to the number of anchor projects his administration left in place before the Progressive Liberal Party's election loss in 2007, Christie said efforts will again be made to increase airlift to the country.
"The idea was that we'd have the bodies by the millions," the prime minister said.
"We have come back in to ensure that there is full recovery in the tourism industry, that Bahamians are integrated meaningfully into the progress that is being made and that we will see that at the airport in the music that is played in the precincts of the airport, and in the art that is displayed in the precincts of the airport."
While still incomplete, phase two of the project bears little resemblance to the previous structure.
Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) President and CEO Stewart Steeves said about 25 percent of the work is still left to complete.
Phase two includes the conversion of the existing U.S. terminal into a new international arrivals terminal.
Only the steel beams and the foundation of the old structure remain.
The new terminal will also house the Department of Immigration and the Department of Customs.
Steeves said there are 201 people working on the project 70 percent of whom are Bahamian.
But Christie said he is looking to improve on the ratio of Bahamian workers.
"We know that there is room for improvement even over the 70 percent, by ensuring that we have more dynamic training programs where even more workers if not by the second phase, then by the third phase, will be able to become actively involved in the site," he said.
Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said with the Baha Mar project coming on stream, The Bahamas has to be able to increase its airlift.
Wilchcombe said he is pleased with the development so far.
"I believe that The Bahamas is reclaiming its position as a premier warm weather destination," he said. "We lost our post and now we're going after it. We are going to ensure that we will sustain it for a long period of time."
Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin revealed that when the airport is completed the government will erect a physical embodiment of the late former Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling, after whom the airport is named.
"The renaming of this airport was a significant step," she said. "It was not just a renaming. It was symbolic of what this airport represents. What you see unfolding is symbolic of what he set out to do."
Hanna-Martin said the airport redevelopment is a major component of the government's overall effort to redevelop the country.
The entire project, including phase two and phase three (international and domestic departures and domestic arrivals), is scheduled to be completed by November 2013.
Once the entire airport redevelopment is completed, there will be a 21 percent increase in terminal size, a 50 percent increase in capacity to over five million passengers annually and a 100 percent increase in security capacity, according to Steeves.
It will cover 571,000 square feet with an additional one million square feet of aircraft operating space.
In total, one-third of the $409.5 million airport redevelopment will be carried out by Bahamians, which amounts to about $81 million in contracts, according to officials.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian