Above, from left: Sarkis Izmirlian, chairman and CEO of Baha Mar, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, Works Minister Neko Grant and Archbishop Patrick Pinder of the Roman Catholoic Diocese of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos (BIS Photo/Letisha Henderson)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham officially opened the newly-realigned West Bay Street in Nassau, part of a large-scale infrastructure project on the island of New Providence.

Given what Ingraham called a “massive” movement of people to the farther expanses of the island in the last four decades, there was an “enormous imperative for addressing the challenges to ground transportation that this represents,” he said.

The multi-billion dollar Baha Mar project in Cable Beach opened the project with a ceremony featuring members of parliament and senior government officials.

The 1.25-mile realigned portion of West Bay Street follows the groundbreaking for the 1000-acre resort in February.

The Baha Mar project is a joint venture between the Bahamian government and the resort, set to open in December 2014.