Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has announced that a conference and convention centre will be constructed at Beckles Road, St. Michael, when the Geriatric Hospital is relocated to the new site at Waterford.
Ms. Mottley disclosed those plans while delivering the feature address at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Afreximbank African Trade Centre at Jemmotts Lane. St. Michael.
Ms. Mottley said the site will be developed under a public/private partnership arrangement, as she stressed the urgency of a larger dedicated facility to host major conferences.
“For a country that has a mature tourism product like Barbados does, for us not to have a dedicated conference and convention centre is a travesty. For us to have used a building outside of the tourism belt for the better part of the last 30 years, as that location is to undermine our own opportunities for the development of this country as truly a hub for tourists, for commerce, and for conventions.
“Therefore, we have agreed that when the Geriatric Hospital moves to its new location in the wonderful National Botanical Gardens that we shall use that site there to create the opportunity for a convention centre,” she stated. (PR/GIS)
