By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

AS HE opened the new Ragged Island Airport Terminal, Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, Chester Cooper, branded the building a “new day” project.

With a construction timeframe of eight-weeks, the deputy prime minister said the facility will serve as a model for small airports around the country.

Mr Cooper, who is also the Exuma and Ragged Island MP chided the previous Minnis administration saying it could not accomplish in four years, what was done by the Davis administration in only eight weeks.

The airport terminal, located in Duncan Town, consists of a large ticket counter, restroom facilities, an office, a kitchen and a storage room.

“I assure you that what could not be done in four years has been done here in eight weeks,” Mr Cooper said. “This airport terminal building serves as a testament to what can be done here in Ragged Island and our commitment to you.

“As I mentioned, construction started eight weeks ago and today it is finished. I want to say a special thank you to Ranmar Contractors who are not only contractors on the ground here, but they are good community people, they are good corporate citizens and when others say it could not be done in such a short period of time, they said it will be done.

“This serves as a signal of hope and restoration. It shows that though you might have been out of sight, you have not been out of mind. I want you to know that this is just the beginning.”

Mr Cooper, his delegates and the press, went to Ragged Island expecting to witness the official commissioning of an airport “gazebo”, but were pleasantly surprised to find a full building representing a small terminal.

“I want to say how pleased I am to be here once more, not just as your member of Parliament, but as your deputy prime minister,” he said. “Today I came to open an airport gazebo, but when I arrived, I went inside and I discovered that this is not a gazebo. This is a full out terminal building here for Ragged Island.

“I am very proud of what I saw and I said to Mr Neko Davis, the family island manager, that this is going to be the model for small airports around the country. An administrator pointed to some of the furniture here under the tree, but I told him no, we don’t put new wine in old bottles.

“Therefore, Mr Davis is appropriately instructed to ensure that this facility has everything that it needs as I happen also to be the minister responsible for aviation.”

He reflected on of the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017, which left the Ragged Islanders without an airport and the necessities to run the island efficiently.

“Four years ago, during Hurricane Irma, you were hit hard, public infrastructure was destroyed and your homes were destroyed,” the minister said. “Irma destroyed the school, the police station, the clinic, the public administration building, water infrastructure, electrical infrastructure and the airport gazebo that you had.

“The damage was so bad that the previous administration shortly thereafter threw up their hands and deemed Ragged Island uninhabitable. This is still a sore point for us here in Ragged Island and for the next years the previous administration had done very little to restore your services.

“This did not stop you, the people of Ragged Island, from surviving. You survived with little – no nurse, no administration building, no post office, no government service, no school and I recall me having to say that over and over in Parliament and I did it with great pride because I am proud to represent you.”

Giving the people of Ragged Island hope for a bright future, Minister Cooper continued to remind them of where they were and how far they have come.

“Children were sent away from their families to New Providence and to Exuma to be educated, causing great heartache,” he said. “And, making the trek back, was made even more difficult by the fact that with the gazebo that was here being destroyed, pilots and travellers would have had no public restrooms on their arrival.

“For some time, the former administration claimed it would get to work, but lingered in restoring services and they dragged their feet in restoring the school and the clinic. But this administration will get it done.”

Also, in attendance at the opening of the terminal were, Mrs Cecilia Cooper, Spouse of the Deputy Prime Minister; Senator Randy Rolle, Consultant, Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation; Niko Davis, Sr, Supt Family Island Airports, Airport Authority; Bacchus Rolle, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Works and Utilities and Leonardo Lightbourne, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs.