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Bahamas: Transport and communications(EIU Viewswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) COUNTRY BACKGROUND FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT The Bahamas relies on airtransport Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau has good air connections, with direct flights to more than a dozen cities in the US and Canada as well as direct flights to five European cities, Cuba and Jamaica. Strongly spurred by Kerzner International (the dominant tourism company in the Bahamas; see Economic sectors: Other services) and other tourism interests, a major capital investment programme started in 2004 with B$40m (US$40m) in runway repairs. In October 2006 the government signed a 30-year management agreement with the Nassau Airport Development Company (a subsidiary of the Airport Authority, a quasi-autonomous Bahamian government body) and Vancouver Airport Services of Canada. An investment programme, including a new terminal, will be completed in 2012, funded in part by passenger and security fees. A privately owned airport on Grand Bahama hosts flights to several US cities and to the UK capital, London. Abaco, Exuma, Eleuthera, San Salvador and some other islands have direct international links, mainly to Florida in the US. Inter-island travel is chiefly by air. The government believes that air traffic control fees could raise upward of B$40m a year in revenue; arrangements for the US to retain security control while handing fee income to the Bahamas have been under discussion since 2003. The loss-making state-owned airline, Bahamasair, flies to most islands from Nassau, although low-volume routes are being contracted out. In addition, there are private airline and charter services. The mail boat service is used mainly for freight, but also takes passengers. A fast ferry service links Nassau, Eleuthera and its neighbouring smaller islands, as well as Abaco and Andros. On individual islands, transport is by road. Traffic density is high in Nassau and congestion is a problem, although a road improvement programme was initiated in 2002. The public transport system in Nassau is limited to privately owned daytime buses. A Hong Kong company, Hutchison Whampoa, in partnership with a local private-sector company, the Grand Bahama Port Authority, owns a container port on Grand Bahama that operates as a long-distance transshipment hub for the Americas, employing over 400 staff, and which has recently expanded its annual capacity to 1.5m TEUs, with dredging to a depth of 15.8 metres; a further expansion, to 1.9m TEUs a year, is proposed. Hutchison also has interests in the airport and hotels on Grand Bahama, and is developing a 318-ha air/sea industrial park. Telecoms are state-owned, but sell-offs are planned Telecommunications services are provided by a state-owned firm known since 2002 as Bahamas Telecommunications (BTC). Privatisation has been in gestation since 1997; after several false starts, before the 2007 election the PLP government proposed the sale of a major stake to the Blue Waters investor consortium, but this was not finalised. An independent company, the Systems Resource Group, was licensed in early 2002 to provide fixed wireless services to New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco. In 2004 the company began offering data services, and it also offers card-based international voice service. A 2.5-ghz B$26m fibre-optic link to Florida is jointly owned by BTC (70%), US-based AT&T (20%) and a consortium of Caribbean and US telecoms companies (10%). Another cable, wholly owned by BTC, links Nassau and Grand Bahama. A cable-television company, Cable Bahamas, offers high-speed Internet connections and has a US$15m fibre-optic network linking Nassau, Grand Bahama, Abaco and Eleuthera to Florida. There are three other Internet services, one of which is operated by BTC. The Systems Resource Group was licensed in early 2002 to provide fixed radio communications services to New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco, competing with BTC and Cable Bahamas, with initial services being provided by the end of2002. The government owns and operates four radio stations and one television channel; four independent radio stations also broadcast from Nassau, and one from Grand Bahama. Most islands have a cable television service. The Nassau Guardian, Tribune, Bahama Journal (evening) and Freeport News are daily newspapers. The Punch is a widely read, twice-weekly tabloid paper. Some Family Islands also have weekly newspapers. Copyright 2007 Economist Intelligence Unit |