Above: Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Genting’s Resorts World Bimini project has received the go-ahead to begin a $150 million phase of development.

Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie announced that he had agreed to the company’s request, with the new project expected to create “a most attractive, charming and compelling mixed-resort mecca,” he said.

The $150 million project will cover a three-year period, with plans for two low-density hotels comprising 600 rooms, an expanded casino and new museums, according to the Prime Minister.

The project could create as many as 1,000 jobs on the island of less than 2,000 people he said.

“The entire Bimini community will be integrated into their plans within the parameters of a carefully prepared and government-approved master plan for the orderly growth and development of both north and south Bimini,” Christie said.

Christie announced the plan following the inaugural voyage of the Bimini SuperFast cruise ship from Miami, which will be providing daily connecting service from Miami to Bimini.

EDSA is preparing the master plan in collaboration with Bahamian officials and professionals, Christie said.

“We are now heralding in the Bahamas, the first cruise destination in our country where there is a specific destination and a specific cruise ship servicing that destination by itself,” he said.

Bimini is known throughout the region for the beauty of its waters, reefs and environment, and Christie said environmental protection would be a part of “all aspects of the development.”

Genting took over the former Bimini Bay resort project earlier this year, rebranding it as Resorts World Bimini in time for the debut of the new cruise service, which will eventually operate with morning and evening service out of Miami.