NASSAU, The Bahamas -- Prime Minister the Hon. Philip Davis announced recently that the Government of The Bahamas has secured $200M in funding for the redevelopment of the Grand Bahama International Airport, with an additional $200M earmarked for other airport infrastructure throughout the country.

Speaking to media from London on Thursday, May 4th, Prime Minister Davis’ announcement would provide an economic uptick for Grand Bahama as a whole.

The $200M is a part of an overall $1B investment made possible through a partnership between the Bahamas Government and UK Exim Bank, with Prime Minister Davis noting that it is his administration’s intent to negotiate in a way that will not immediately increase the country’s debt.

Initially, it was announced that the Grand Bahama Island airport redevelopment project would get $400 million, but the Prime Minister explained the total amount that was drawn down and the amount designated to the GB airport:  “It is really $200 million that will go towards the Grand Bahama International Airport redevelopment, with another $200 million going towards the redevelopment of other airports throughout The Bahamas, as well as to other investments,” stated the Prime Minister. “For all intents and purposes, the bank has indicated to us that they do have a billion dollars available to us for infrastructure development. We have to identify those projects to decide what we will draw down and where those funds will go.”

Per the partnership agreement, any project for which the funds will be used must be ones which the UK EXIM Bank can embrace and which they feel has an internal rate of return that will benefit The Bahamas and the Bahamian people.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, the Hon. Chester Cooper in March of this year told Grand Bahama’s business movers and shakers during the Grand Bahama Business Outlook that work on the airport’s redevelopment would begin before the end of the year’s second quarter.

With the funds available, Grand Bahamians will see work on the redevelopment of the International Airport into a state-of-the-art facility moving at a steady pace. Phase one of the two-phased carbon neutral, climate resilient, commercially viable, world-class airport is expected to be completed by April of 2025.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Government of The Bahamas has entered into an agreement with Aerodrome Limited, a Bahamian company; Manchester Airport Group Limited, an airport management company based in Manchester in the United Kingdom; and BHM Construction International, a company based in London to bring about this vision.

These three companies represent a joint venture consortium that successfully bid to design, build, finance, operate, maintain and redevelop the Grand Bahama International Airport and to generate traffic to grow revenue and to further enhance Grand Bahama International Airport.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Cooper, a new, world-class international airport can only mean bigger and better things for Grand Bahama’s tourism economy, and he noted that Grand Bahama has seen a dramatic improvement since the devastation of Hurricane Dorian in 2019, followed by the lockdowns from the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020.

This airport redevelopment project is in line with the Davis Administration’s vision of making Grand Bahama “grand” again, by bolstering its economy, providing more jobs and business opportunities, and further developing the nation’s second city.