By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE government is in the midst of prioritising development for this year now that the budget has been passed in the Senate, Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday.

Mr Christie underscored the intention to make good on his promises to develop the Family Islands, adding that a tangible impact will be made before the end of his term.

“The question now is being able to make a determination on how we are going to spend the resources that are available to us this year,” Mr Christie said, “that’s the decision that we are in the process of making now. We need roads in Acklins, we need roads in Andros and they are so significant in terms of the cost of them.

“We know we need some buildings. We need schools and so those are the decisions that we will make towards ensuring that we have a defined approach to our capital development spending and we want to do the spending in such a way that it acts as a stimulus for employment confidence in a particular area.”

Pointing to the considered focus on strategic development in Andros, Mr Christie said he will announce plans for infrastructural development in the southern Bahamas in the upcoming weeks.

Mr Christie spoke to the press at a multi-agency exhibition on disaster preparedness hosted by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) at Rawson Square yesterday.

NEMA Director, Captain Stephen Russell, emphasised the importance of preparedness in a comprehensive disaster management plan as he pointed to the collective roles of governmental departments and agencies in ensuring effective mitigation, response and recovery.

During his opening address, Mr Christie underscored the need for greater awareness of climate change, and rising sea levels. He said he planned to make a statement on the matter at the upcoming CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in Antigua.

He said: “I’m one of those persons talking at the highest level worldwide on climate change and its impact on small island nations like the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. We are not responsible for the origin and impact of climate change, but we have to get those countries in the world who have contributed to the serious dangers that now exist as a result of it, to recognise that countries like the Bahamas would look to countries like the Maldives and see it’s under water, knowing that only a rise of three metres in some islands would put an island under water and therefore the civilisation of the Bahamas can be easily threatened by the potential that exists.”

Mr Christie also called for the relocation of shore-side graveyards for the protection of loved ones’ bodies at risk during hurricanes.