NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The government is moving ahead with plans to construct a new Supreme Court Judicial Complex according to Attorney General Ryan Pinder who described the development as the “most transformational investment” in the country’s judicial system since Independence.
During his contribution to the 2023/2024 budget debate in the Senate Pinder noted that the government, through its property acquisition special purpose vehicle Poinciana SPV Ltd, will purchase 50 Shirley Street and 52 Shirley Street, and take ownership of the Rodney Bain Building.
“These three parcels of land will be developed into a new, state of the art Supreme Court Judicial center. The Rodney Bain building will be demolished, and the current 50 Shirley Street building, where the Registrar General is located, will be re-purposed for courts and the judicial administration function. A new seven-story Supreme Court complex will be built adjacent to the current 50 Shirley Street building,” Pinder explained.
This new Supreme Court Judicial Court Complex will provide for eight civil courts and eight criminal courts and four hearing rooms. There will be adequate parking underground, and the design of the complex will be suitable for a proper judicial edifice downtown. This will be in addition to three Supreme Courts in Freeport.”
Constructing the complex according to Pinder will allow the government to deliver on the promises of specialty courts.
“Once the Judicial Complex is completed, which is estimated to be in two and a half years, the current main Supreme Court will be converted into two Sexual Offenses Courts. We have identified and are undertaking the renovations for three family courts, three magistrate hearing rooms for family matters and a Juvenile court. These will be located on Bernard Road.
“We will convert the current Hansard Building where the Chief Justice is into a Coroners Court. We are also looking at acquiring a building close to the new Supreme Court Judicial Complex that will be utilized for an arbitration center and commercial court. These are all in addition to the new specialty magistrate court, the gun court which will hear firearm offenses to ensure swift and equitable justice for those who have firearm offenses.”
Pinder added: “This will be the most transformational investment in our judicial system since Independence. We will finance this through the public markets with bond offerings and commercial construction loans to be taken out by Poinciana SPV Ltd. in the same fashion as they used for the acquisition of the UBS building for the financial services regulators.”
According to Pinder, the government is also looking to amend the Supreme Court Act to provide for the capacity for five additional Supreme Court Judges, to provide the necessary capacity to address the backlog of cases that exist.
