Arawak Cay restrooms “an eyesore”

Arawak Cay restrooms “an eyesore”
The bathrooms at Arawak Cay.

The spotlight is now being put on Arawak Cay as restroom facilities at the popular tourist and local hot spot are being described by some as deplorable.

While the government claims its working feverishly to address infrastructural issues, many Bahamians expressed the need for more to be done.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Bamboo Town Renward Wells, who has responsibility for Arawak Cay told Eyewitness News Wednesday, that government is doing its best to remedy the mounting list of infrastructural issues at the facility.

“The Bahamian people will see that when we first came into office, we fixed the lights out there and we started to repair some of the bathrooms, and so that is in process,” Wells said.

“Over the next one or two months, you will see more capital work done to bring those restrooms up to the standard, where they need to be.”

Eyewitness News inspected the western and eastern restrooms on Wednesday.

While a number of urinals were inoperable, and covered with plastic bags, the majority of toilet stalls on the compound were clean and fully functional.

Since taking office, Wells appointed a new manager – Paul Willie – to oversee ongoing upgrades on Arawak Cay.

“When I first came into this position, Arawak Cay reeked with the scent of urine. It was a bad odour,” said Willie.

“Since coming into office in August 2017, the team has managed to clean up these facilities and the sour scent is no longer around.

“Two weeks ago, we began renovation work on the eastern restroom facility and now we will begin work on the western restroom facility. There is still a lot of work left to be done, as upgrades were not carried out on these buildings in quite some time. But we are working to get it all done within the coming months.”

While Willie and his team have managed to make minimal upgrades to the restroom facilities at Arawak Cay, the overall aesthetic was still very deteriorated.

Some walls that were inspected needed patching and paint, while cardboard signs needed to be replaced with permanent fixtures. The space is also in need of a number of new urinals and soap dispensers.

Perry Pratt, a Bahamian who frequents Arawak Cay, told Eyewitness News that the restroom facilities, which are an “eye sore for Bahamians and tourists”, are a far cry from what one might find when visiting popular tourist hot spots around the world.

“Because of the area that this is in, and the volume of clients – Bahamians and tourists alike – we ought to have these things in tip-top shape,” Pratt noted.

Wells suggested that the government will seek the assistance of private entities to assist the government with the upkeep at Arawak Cay.

“I am looking at how we can perhaps get private public partnerships (PPP) going, so that we can approach managing these kinds of areas with a joint effort approach,” Wells said.

About Theo Sealy

Theo Sealy is an award-winning journalist who serves as senior broadcast reporter and weekend TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. He has achieved several career milestones, including his work as a field contributor with CNN, his coverage of four consecutive general elections, his production of several docuseries and his Bahamas Press Club Awards win for “Best Television News Story” in 2018.