THE BARBADOS TOURISM INVESTMENT Inc. (BTII) has a vision of a revitalized Constitution River becoming a location for water activities.
Chief executive officer Stuart Layne told the BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY the BTII “would love to see the waterway become one of Barbados’ tourism product offerings with activities like kayaking and so on”.
But he added that it would take some time for that to become a reality.
“We don’t want to sell the notion that this would be happening immediately. Over time, we do expect to have a very clean Constitution River and we’re working towards a waterway that would have incredible water activities,” he said as work continued on phase two of the project which is set to be completed in the first quarter of 2014.
Such an initiative would require a Phase 3 to prevent contaminated water from other parts of the island reaching the Constitution River.
That phase will stretch from the Queen’s Park Bridge to the Globe Cinema.
Layne explained it was now at “concept level” and would get the BTII’s attention in about another year. A study will be conducted before that is undertaken, he added.
“So that’s why the water activities would come in the longer term; not because we can’t deliver, but because unless full work on Phase 3 is completed, the debris and other sources of water that may enter the area would affect the quality of the waterway.”
Workers from C.O. Williams Construction Limited – the company which is dredging and deepening the canal – have been hard at work on the project.
Layne said he was happy with the progress being made so far.
Although declining to disclose the cost of project, he said it was “within budget”. (DP)
