According to Minister of Agriculture V. Alfred Gray, the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) will be the envy of the western world as soon as it is completed, but he believes the completion process is taking much longer than it should.

BAMSI, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works Philip Davis, is set to be completed in June.
It has had many setbacks and according to the minister of agriculture, although he is aware of some of the reasons for delays, the completion is taking a bit too long.

“I am concerned about the length of time the construction is taking and any reasonable person would be,” he said.

“All of the reasons for the delay I may not know, but I know sufficiently to say that those buildings ought to be completed by now. I’ve been made aware that there are some issues which are the cause of why it hasn’t been completed, but all the work should be done by June.”

Minister Gray said Arnold Forbes, the recently appointed minister of state for the Ministry of Works has now been made overseer for the future construction at BAMSI.

Minister Forbes said he is currently working on fixing issues at the Andros institute.

“All I can say at this point is that I would like to move things in BAMSI forward,” he added.

“I’ve had my initial meetings already and I have set timelines for certain things to be in place and I believe we can pull this off very smoothly from here on out. I intend to dot all my I’s and cross all my T’s to do what need to do to make sure that Bahamians get value for their money.”

Minister Forbes said he is dedicated to ensuring that everyone on site is qualified and capable to get the job done to ensure the completion of BAMSI as smoothly and as quickly as possible.

He said officials at his ministry listened to Minister Gray’s recent request and are currently in the process of reviewing contracts related to the institute.