On a Friday site visit led by Bahamas Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville, top government officials confirmed that the long-awaited Freeport Health Campus project is back on track and currently 30% complete, with substantial finishing of the facility’s first phase scheduled for July 2027.\n\nJoined by Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey, West Grand Bahama MP Kingsley Smith, and senior hospital and project management officials, the tour revealed that construction work has fully restarted after the government secured critical financing via a loan from CIBC. The 80,000-square-foot first phase facility, being built by general contractor ABC Construction with Veritas Consultants Limited acting as owner’s representative and project agent for the Public Hospitals Authority, has expanded significantly from its original 62,000-square-foot design. Nearly 18,000 square feet of additional space has been added to the facility’s basement, a modification that will serve two key community needs: a designated hurricane shelter and a new training hub for the Public Hospitals Authority Academy.\n\nDr Darville outlined the current construction timeline, noting that crews are now pouring the facility’s main roof slab. Once this step is complete and the entire building envelope is sealed, internal construction work will commence. The government remains committed to opening the first phase by the end of 2027, with full commissioning expected no later than September of that year, according to John Michael Clark, president and managing director of Veritas Consultants. Clark added that all foundational work and the main building superstructure are already in place, and construction has also begun on the campus’s Central Utility Plant, a critical infrastructure component for the facility’s long-term operation.\n\nLooking ahead to the project’s second phase, Dr Darville confirmed that design work for the planned multi-story inpatient tower – which will house the majority of the new hospital’s patient beds – is nearly complete. Lead architects and structural engineers The Beck Group have finished the bulk of the design, and the government will launch a public tender bidding process for the second phase construction in the near future.\n\nPrime Minister Davis praised the project team for advancing the development after previous setbacks that caused significant delays. He noted that the additional hurricane shelter space holds particular resonance this week, as the nation marks the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Dorian, the devastating storm that exposed critical gaps in emergency safe shelter infrastructure across Grand Bahama. “To see that you will now have somewhere where people feel safer than they were then is also what I say is a sign of progress for us,” Davis said during a press briefing after the tour.\n\nBoth Davis and Dr Darville emphasized that the new health campus is being built to meet both current and future demand for healthcare on Grand Bahama, where the existing Rand Memorial Hospital has operated beyond its maximum capacity for 15 to 20 years. Davis framed the $project as a forward-thinking investment aligned with projected economic and population growth across the island, saying “we expect Grand Bahama to be thriving in a way that this hospital will be able to accommodate that exponential growth in the economy that we have here.” Dr Darville added that the Freeport Health Campus will become the new hub of tertiary healthcare for Grand Bahama, designed to serve generations of residents as the island develops.