With no cost attached to any of its undertakings, the Downtown Nassau Partnership (DNP) is promising a complete makeover for the city center that will make it more attractive for tourists.
During a recent press conference to give details of the partnership, Minister of Tourism, Dionisio D’Aguilar said “from a touristic standpoint, we have two to three million cruise passengers come to our city and their first stop is the Bay Street area and Prince George dock and that is why the government has decided that that port needs a different structure, needs a different solution,” Mr. D’Aguilar said.
“It is not a good first sight of our city and the government has committed, [Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Transport and Downtown Nassau Partnership] and we’ve come to put our heads together to create an entity, much like NAD at the Lynden Pindling Airport, to improve the customer experience when they first arrive here in Nassau,” he said.
Mr. D’Aguilar said that the port and the development of downtown will work hand in hand.
“Whatever entity takes over the port [to manage] will have to tie nicely into to Bay Street because we want to obviously get the passengers off the boat through the port where they can get on to Bay Street and begin to spend money in our country,” Mr. D’Aguilar said.
To get the improvements started, a process that has been in the work for quite some time, Mr. D’Aguilar said that it will begin with a Business Improvement District legislation that will be presented to the government within the next three weeks.
“The Business Improvement District (BID) which will hopefully provide the funding for the revitalization and refreshing of Bay Street.
“That’s very important to do something different,” Mr. D’Aguilar said.
“There are three components to a successful downtown number one is parking, number two is accommodation for people to live and number three is food and beverage and retail options, nightlife for people to enjoy,” he said.
Along with public private partnership, the Downtown Nassau Partnership will also work in conjunction with the Ministry of Transport and Local Government.
Minister of Local Government, Frankie Campbell said he is pleased to work along with the partnership and touted that the revitalization of downtown will not only benefit tourist but also Bahamians.
“This partnership really is what Local Government is intended to be. The local stakeholders will address their local challenges because they know they best what is needed.
“They will become a partner with central government who will facilitate by signing some permits, but together we will be able to cause these things to happen,” Mr. Campbell said.
The Nassau Downtown partnership is a five to ten year project.
