FREEPORT, Grand Bahama – The College of the Bahamas Thursday morning broke ground for its new mutli-million dollar Northern Campus in East Freeport as part of what College officials said was a deliberate step toward preparing the institution for university status.
Construction on the first and second phases of the new campus, according to the College, is expected to be completed by Fall 2007 at a budgeted cost of $4 million.
Education Minister Alfred Sears and COB Council Chairman Franklyn Wilson were among those in attendance for the ground breaking ceremony on 220 acres of property in Lucayan Estates Freeport donated to the College by the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) – one of the project’s major partners.
Residents hope that in addition to the College meeting its expansion objectives, the construction of the campus will also lead to a boom in business activity in the area that at this time is primarily residential.
The present campus located on West Settler’s Way in Freeport currently shares a facility with the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute and is considered to have outlived its usefulness in a number of areas.
Construction on the new campus will be carried out in stages with phase one consisting of land preparation, construction of an entrance boulevard and a gateway to the campus and phase two consisting of 17,000 sq. ft. of buildings.
The College says the signature offerings at the new campus will focus on Engineering, Communications and Technology, and the expansion will enable the tertiary level institution to double to approximately 1000 the number of students it can accommodate.
Mr. Wilson, during his remarks, focused heavily on the contribution of GBPA chairman the late Edward St. George, whose vision and work led to the expansion coming to fruition.
“Mr. St. George was so inspired and excited about this concept,” he said ” I cannot believe that in the last days of his life there wasn’t any single matter that occupied his mind more than the College/University of the Bahamas based on our conversations and the frequency thereof.”
According to the College’s synopsis of the events leading up to the groundbreaking, Mr. St. George was active in initially securing 50 acres of property for the expansion before moving to have the land grant increased.
The late co-owner of the GBPA is also said to have been working up to his death on securing additional acreage and acquiring existing buildings for the College.
Minister Sears pointed out that, “The Chairman and members of the Council shared in [Mr. St. George’s] vision-.The groundbreaking is the culmination of discussions which we detailed by the Chairman of the College of the Bahamas.”
He said the groundbreaking is a testament to the quality of corporate citizenship brought by the GBPA.
The new expansion is a continuation of others made by COB this year.
In April, COB purchased the Boulevard Building on Thompson Avenue in New Providence at a cost of $4.5 million and broke ground for an $11 million state-of-the-art Library and Information Centre.
The College says it will commence work on a new Performing Arts theatre this Fall.
By: Sharon Williams, The Bahama Journal
