Chalk up another small island going the
route of big development. Officials recently broke ground on a
7,300-foot runway and international airport terminal on the island
of Mayaguana, a sleepy outpost at the southeastern outer edge of
the Bahamas, 350 miles southeast of Nassau and 50 miles west of the
Turks and Caicos.
Mayaguana is the
least developed and most isolated island within the Bahamas' family
of islands. It was uninhabited until 1812, when several groups of
islanders from nearby Turks and Caicos wandered over.
Today,
Mayaguana's has a population of 259. Most are farmers and
fishermen. Mail is delivered once a week by boat.
Until now, the
island has been a stopover for yacht enthusiasts for its beaches,
diving and shelling.
The island, which
still retains its Arawak Indian name, currently offers overnight
visitors the 16-room Baycaneer Beach Resort and the even smaller
Mayaguana Inn Guest House. Both sit on the beach and offer
all-inclusive plans.
That, however, is
all about to change.
The new
development initially will include a luxury boutique resort,
restaurants, a spa, yoga classes, a fitness center, a marina
village with slips for yachts up to 100 feet in length, private
villas, condominiums and four designated nature preserves. The cost
of the entire development: $1.8 billion.
The project is a
joint venture of Boston-based I-Group and the Bahama government's
Hotel Corp. of the Bahamas. Mayaguana Island Development Co. is the
on-site developer and contractor and has established an office on
the island to oversee the project.
Junaid Yasin,
executive vice president of the Mayaguana Island Development Co.,
said the objective "is to develop this island into something
comparable to the Turks and Caicos and to be a first-class,
second-home community for professionals in North America, the
Caribbean and Europe."
Former Prime
Minister Perry Christie (he was defeated in the Bahamas' national
elections on April 30) earlier described the project as an
"exciting new beginning for Mayaguana."
"Long forgotten,
long neglected and long forsaken, Mayaguana can now rise and take
its place at the national table as a full partner," he
said.
If the project is
endorsed by the current prime minister, Hubert Ingraham, the new
airport facility will have an international terminal with
facilities for customs and immigration and a runway that will be
able to accommodate scheduled flights on 737 aircraft and chartered
flights on 757s.
The airport is
tentatively scheduled to open late this year.
Currently,
Mayaguana is served by BahamasAir, with three flights a week from
Nassau and Freeport. Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos, which
is served by 12 daily flights from the U.S., is a 15-minute air
taxi from Mayaguana.
A time line for
the development has not been released.
For more details,
visit www.mayaguana-island.com.
To contact reporter Gay Nagle Myers, send e-mail to [email protected].