Cleopatra Murphy

Freeport News Reporter

cleopatra@nasguard.com

Grand Bahama's bleak economy may soon see a turnaround as Prime Minister Perry Christie said, he is feeling encouraged about the island's future.

"Why I spoke about encouraging people to be optimistic was that from where we sit, we are beginning to have a sense that we can make things happen down here much more quickly than people would have anticipated and so that's what's happening - that we want to keep on moving forward," Christie said while speaking to the Grand Bahama media last week.

The prime minister said his government is trying to make head way in the industrial sector and tourism sector on the island, noting that just last week a team along with the Grand Bahama Port Authority had been in Canada looking at an industrial site that could be brought to the island.

Christie said while his administration is still in its early days, he has reason to feel confident that his government will make positive things happen for the island.

"Everything that we set for Grand Bahama is in motion and we are going to be reporting to Grand Bahama soon about the things that we are going to be doing for Grand Bahama," the prime minister said.

He noted that the recently formed Ministry of Grand Bahama is gaining its footing and going through the process and he wants the public to see the value of the ministry, headed by Minister of Grand Bahama Dr. Michael Darville.

"We want to make sure that people see how relevant that ministry is to them by actually having a lot of these things happen through that ministry and so we are moving quickly in that regard and we expect therefore some things to happen," the prime minister said.

Christie said his government had been engaged in meeting investors for the island in both the tourism sector and the industrial sector, but he did not want to provide details too soon about those discussions.

"We're hoping soon to be able to take the first step forward in being able to talk to you and that is why right now I didn't even say that we are cautiously optimistic. I said we are optimistic and so that's unqualified and not before it's time should I speak to these issues because there is a process that we are involved in and we want to make sure that we fulfill everything that we have to do," he said.

With many residents still concerned about the high cost of electricity on the island, the prime minister said he had engaged in a meeting with representatives from the Grand Bahama Power Company last week Monday along with another group and they had presented a proposal with a view to lowering the cost of power on Grand Bahama.

"We are encouraged by those discussions and we are satisfied based on what was told to us that the power company is in fact working really hard to bring positive results in terms of reduced cost of energy here on Grand Bahama and we are looking forward to that taking place," Christie said.