The $83.5-million final phase of the redevelopment of the Lynden Pindling International Airport is 90 per cent complete and on track to open in just a few months, according to officials from the Nassau Airport Development Co (NAD), which led Prime Minister Perry Christie and members of government on a tour of the site today.

The third stage of the $409.5-million project will create a new Domestic and International Departures and Domestic Arrivals Terminal, which will encompass nine retail units, five restaurants, banking facilities and a post office. It will also feature art installations created by local artists such as Antonius Roberts and a statue of the airport’s namesake, The Bahamas’ first Prime Minister, Sir Lynden Pindling.

Prime Minister Christie thanked the management team behind the project and noted that the airport would be a welcome contribution to the tourism sector, particularly in light of recent hotel developments such as upgrades at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort and the Baha Mar project on Cable Beach.

He said it was critical for island nations, such as The Bahamas, to modernize their transportation links and pledged that other airports in the archipelago would also be improved saying: “We have to find the right formula to advance the infrastructure of airports in The Bahamas.”

Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin added: “We are coming out of a deep economic crisis and [the new airport] is helping to position our country to regain its prominence in the tourism market and in the financial services sector, and will seek to enhance domestic travel for our own people. This is a very proud moment for all of us as a government.”

cmorris@dupuch.com