The Baha Mar Development Company Limited will ﾓembraceﾒ nature as part of its billion-dollar Phase III project, according to its CEO Sarkis Izmirlian.
But he did not indicate whether an environmental impact assessment has already been completed, saying only that Baha Mar has a commitment to environmental protection.
ﾓWhen the prime minister and I walked back there, in the back of the power station that power some of the hotels, what you see is a beautiful natural wetland that by a miracle has been untouched,ﾒ Mr. Izmirlian said, responding to a question from The Bahama Journal on his companyﾴs commitment to environmental stewardship.
ﾓThere are wild birds there, beautiful nature and I brought the prime minister there to show him that we want to embrace nature; we want nature to be a part of our project. Of course when you do something this large, you have to be careful not to impact the environment. Weﾴre going to go through great care, do all the necessary studies in order to minimize any impact.ﾒ
The mammoth project will significantly change the Cable Beach area for the better, he assured.
The much talked about development includes a 1,000 room casino hotel with a 75,000 square foot casino; a renovated and expanded 1,000 room convention hotel at Radisson Cable Beach Resort; a new 300 room luxury hotel; 400 renovated rooms at the Nassau Beach Hotel; the creation of 100,000 square feet of convention space; world class attractions and amenities; and other residential resort offerings.
Prime Minister Perry Christie has indicated that he is convinced that the project would be environmentally-friendly.
ﾓThere are about 200 acres of wetlands owned privately that [Baha Mar] has negotiated to purchase and [Mr. Izmirlian] has always maintained that he has to integrate those wetlands because in many ways they are dried up or derelict.
ﾓTo actually integrate that aspect of nature with birds, with whatever else their advisors have suggested are there is an integral part of the project. So itﾴs really in terms of its dimension an extraordinary kind of situation.ﾒ
Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
