Live tracker
What’s being built in Grand Bahama and surrounding cays, and when.
Completed work comes first. Every item shows where it stands, who is building it, when it started and where the information comes from.
The tracker
Every tracked item
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That’s every tracked item.
Something missing, or more urgent? Say what should be fixed first.
Our rules
How this tracker works
- 01Every item carries a date, a place and a source.
- 02Nothing is marked completed until it is open or finished.
- 03Delays stay on the page. A paused item keeps its place, with the reason.
- 04Where jobs are reported, we count how many go to Grand Bahamians.
What the tracker shows for every major project
- A project owner
- The capital required
- A financing model
- An approvals pathway
- A delivery deadline
- Its dependencies
- An economic impact assessment
- A measure of success
Once the new framework is in place, the Government intends to publish a yearly State of Grand Bahama Report on the economy, infrastructure and investment.
Have your say
What should be fixed first?
Choose up to three. Results update for everyone, and you can change your answer at any time.
What residents are saying
0 responses
Results appear as people respond.
Grand Bahama and Surrounding Cays A Framework for Stability and Growth
One island, one economy, six engines. The Government’s plan for one transparent and equal set of rules across Grand Bahama, in three phases from 2026 to 2036.
ProgressEvery major project, trackedWhere each one stands, who is building it and the source.Open the tracker
The Green Paper25 questions for Grand BahamaConsultation from 1 November 2026 to 30 April 2027.Read the questions
Have your sayWhat should be fixed first?Choose up to three. Results update for everyone.Answer the poll
The 2026 tribunal awardWhat the tribunal decidedEleven questions, each with the tribunal’s answer.See the answers
The Prime Minister, at a shipyard in Freeport, 21 October 2026
“Who governs Grand Bahama, and in whose interest is Grand Bahama governed?”
‘Whether’ we change is settled. How we change is yours to shape.
Paragraph 45Public power belongs to the public. No private interest will stand between Grand Bahama and its future.
Paragraph 132This is the timetable, and I ask you to hold me to it.
Paragraph 181
Grand Bahama today, in numbers
- 46,740people at the 2022 census, down 9% from 51,368 in 2010
- B$1.81 billioneconomic output in 2024, 11.4% of the national total, and still 7.5% below 2021
- 8.7%unemployment in late 2025, down from 12.8% in January. For women it was 14.1% in January, for men 11.6%
- 22,127homes at the 2022 census, with about one in five empty at the time. 64% of occupied homes are owned by the people living in them
- 1.09 millionforeign visitor entries in 2025, nearly double 2024. Visitors staying overnight fell 17%, to 101,077
- B$268.5 millionof building projects given permits in 2024, up from B$66.8 million in 2021
Source: the Green Paper, chapter 2, from the Bahamas National Statistical Institute, the Central Bank and the Ministry of Tourism. Census counts are not an estimate of today’s population. Entries and overnight visitors are counted differently and can’t be added together.
Today, Grand Bahama works as three separate economies.
One Grand Bahama.
The plan develops the island as one economy and one national development region, with Freeport as its commercial, maritime and industrial centre.
Six engines that reinforce each other instead of competing.
The proposed route from consultation to implementation
Choose a step to see what happens then.
- October 2026
- Target 1 July 2027
- 1 July 2028
Five commitments
- One set of rules for the whole island.
Transparent and equal governance and regulation across Grand Bahama is the Government’s main aim.
- One Grand Bahama.
Freeport, East and West Grand Bahama and surrounding cays treated as connected parts of one economy.
- Freeport stays the centre.
The aim is not to diminish Freeport, but to make sure its success helps the whole island.
- The Hawksbill Creek Agreement will be reformed.
Its part in building Freeport is recognised, but the Government considers it has outlived its usefulness.
- Certainty.
Reform that is deliberate, consultative and lawful. Rights respected, nothing retrospective, clear transition and no break in essential services.
The Green Paper
Grand Bahama and Surrounding Cays: A Framework for Stability and Growth
The Government’s proposals for one transparent and equal set of rules across Grand Bahama, put to the public for six months from 1 November 2026 to 30 April 2027.
Four connected proposals
A proposed Grand Bahama Development Council
Advisory to begin with. Who chairs it, who sits on it and whether it continues are open for consultation. Members could come from Freeport, East and West Grand Bahama and surrounding cays, and include Government, local government, the Port Authority and licensees, labour, businesses, young people, community and environmental groups.
A review of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement
Led by the Attorney General’s Office. It will weigh amending the Agreement, repealing it, or replacing it with a new framework, alone or in combination.
A White Paper, targeted for 1 July 2027
The Government’s decisions after the consultation, the reasons for them, and the laws and steps needed to carry them out.
A Grand Bahama Development Act
The law that puts the chosen framework in place, with an island-wide development strategy and concessions for investment across the island, possibly enhanced outside Freeport.
The consultation
Open from 1 November 2026 to 30 April 2027.
The Green Paper, Grand Bahama: A Framework for Stability and Growth, sets out the Government’s proposals and asks 25 questions. The aim is settled: transparent and equal governance and regulation across the whole island. How to get there is open, and the Government wants to hear from residents, workers, businesses, licensees, the Port Authority, local government and community groups.
A Cabinet Subcommittee on Grand Bahama Reform oversees the consultation, and the Grand Bahama Reform Secretariat runs it: it records every response, holds the public meetings and prepares ‘What We Heard’ and the Consultation Report. The consultation does not decide individual applications or commercial transactions.
How to respond
Responses are made online on this website, from 1 November 2026 until 30 April 2027. Public meetings will be held in Freeport, East Grand Bahama and West Grand Bahama, with dates and venues published here before each meeting. Every response is considered on its substance, not on how many people make the same point.
The poll on this site is a quick sounding, not a formal response to the Green Paper.
The timetable
- 1 Nov 2026 to 30 Apr 2027Consultation
- February 2027‘What We Heard’: an interim summary of views
- May to June 2027Recommendations to Cabinet
- 1 July 2027White Paper: the Government’s decisions and reasons
- 31 December 2027Draft law ready
- Early 2028Law passed, then budgeted for 2028/29
What reform should deliver
- Investment and jobs across the whole island
- Faster economic stability in East and West Grand Bahama and surrounding cays
- Better public services
- Clear accountability for development decisions
- Resilience, economic and climate
The questions
Priorities for reformChapter 2, Q1
- Chapter 2 describes falls in stopover visitors, population and output, with recent signs of recovery. Which of these problems should reform address first, and why?
Who should hold each public functionChapter 8, Q2 to Q9
- Business licensing. Should one licensing system apply across Grand Bahama and surrounding cays? Which body should administer it, and how should an applicant appeal against a decision?
- Planning and building control. Should one set of planning and building rules apply across the island? Which body should decide applications, and what would make decisions quicker and clearer?
- Environmental administration. How should environmental review, monitoring and enforcement be organised across the island, including within the Port Area?
- Electricity, water and wastewater. Who should hold providers to account for reliability and price, and how should customers obtain redress when a service fails?
- Roads, drainage, sanitation and public spaces. Which body should build and maintain them in each part of the island, and to what standard?
- For each of these functions, would clearer coordination or common standards be enough, or should responsibility move to a different public body?
- Whichever body is responsible, what would make it easier to obtain a decision, make a complaint or appeal against a decision?
- What part should local government and the communities of East and West Grand Bahama and the cays play in setting priorities and reviewing public services?
The Grand Bahama Development CouncilChapter 5, Q10 to Q12
- What should the Council do once it is established, and what should remain with Ministers, departments and regulators?
- Who should sit on the Council, how should members be chosen, and who should chair it?
- Should the Council continue under Cabinet authority, have a statutory basis for coordination and reporting, or receive defined statutory powers? If powers, which ones?
The successor to the Hawksbill Creek AgreementChapter 6, Q13 to Q15
- Which provisions of the HCA and related instruments should be changed first, and should each be amended, repealed or replaced?
- Which existing licences, approvals, concessions and contracts need express protection during the change, and how should they be protected?
- Where a body holds commercial interests and public decision-making powers, what separation, disclosure and review should apply?
The Grand Bahama Development Act and concessionsChapter 7, Q16 to Q19
- What should the Development Act contain, and what can be achieved under existing law?
- How should concessions be structured across the island, and what enhanced concessions outside Freeport would bring investment and jobs to East and West Grand Bahama and the cays sooner?
- What conditions on Bahamian employment, training, suppliers and ownership should come with a concession, and how should they be checked?
- How long should concessions last, and how should awards be published, reviewed and withdrawn if conditions are not met?
Economic priorities and Bahamian participationChapter 3, Q20 to Q22
- Which economic activities offer Grand Bahama the best prospects, and what is holding them back now?
- What would most help Bahamian businesses, including those outside Freeport, to supply larger firms and visitors?
- What changes to training, recruitment and support, such as transport and childcare, would help residents get and keep these jobs?
Public services, housing and resilienceChapter 4, Q23 to Q25
- Which public services most need improvement in your community, and how should they be provided in smaller settlements?
- How should empty and damaged homes be brought back into use, and where should new housing and development go?
- What arrangements would keep essential services running during and after a hurricane or other disruption?
Governance
A 1955 agreement. A 2036 island.
The Hawksbill Creek Agreement helped build Freeport, and that history will be respected. But it was signed before Independence to develop the Port Area, not to govern the whole island. Reform will be deliberate, consultative and legally disciplined.
Protected: legitimate private rights
- Property
- Contracts
- Investment rights
Under review: public functions
- Regulation
- Licensing
- Planning
- Utilities oversight
- Environment
What the 2026 tribunal award decided
In February 2026 an independent tribunal ruled on the dispute between the Government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority. Open a question for the detail.
Still to be settled
- The amount of the annual payment
- Whether it covers past years
- Any damages for the bylaws breach
These go to the review in the 1994 Agreement, or back to the tribunal. The award does not end the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, transfer the Port Authority’s functions to the Government, or establish a debt.
Read the full award (PDF)Read it here, paragraph by paragraph