Minister Says Gov’t Will Protect Clifton:
By Candia Dames -
Nassau, Bahamas:

The government has no intension of entertaining any suggestion for any residential developments on the Clifton property in southwest New Providence, the minister responsible for culture Carl Bethel assured Thursday.

"We have no plans for any gated community," he told the Bahama Journal.

Minister Bethel was asked about the way forward for the Clifton property, which was at the heart of controversy in the late 90s during the first Ingraham government’s second term in office.

The minister said, "We are not like our immediate predecessors. All good things are continued and there’s going to be no radical shift and no likely change."

He was referring specifically about plans for Clifton.

The Free National Movement government in its Manifesto 07 has promised to review the plans of the Clifton National Park Authority to ensure that the ruins of slave huts and archaeological sites of Lucayan people are stabilized, wetlands restored and the park made accessible to the public.

In 1989, the then government acquired the Clifton property from Nancy Oakes von Hoyningen-Huene. Payment for the property came 15 years after in 2004.

Several months after, the government established the Clifton Authority, a corporate body with responsibility for owning, managing and preserving Clifton. It is also responsible for the raising and management of funds.

After much debate, the Christie-led government decided to move ahead with developing a national park.

The Clifton Heritage Park will operate for-profit businesses including restaurants, a nature conservancy, recreational facilities, as well as sell licensed products and reproductions.

Back in 1999 international archaeologists discovered that the Clifton site held clues to prehistoric civilization and every historic era in The Bahamas up to post emancipation.

The archaeological team unearthed artifacts eight centuries old, left behind by some of the country’s earliest settlers at the old Whylly Plantation at Clifton. Since then, the archaeological finds have remained untouched, according to officials.

18 May 2007