Disney Cruise Line Gets Preliminary Approval for Port in Bahamas

Officials in the Bahamas have issued tentative approval for Disney Cruise Line’s plan to construct and operate a cruise port on the island of Eleuthera.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the project would be developed by a Walt Disney Co. subsidiary and built on a 746-acre piece of land the company already agreed to purchase. The plans call for the building of “a pier, shops, marina, restaurants and walkways through nearby forests and around salt ponds.”

Members of the Bahamian Cabinet told the LA Times the cruise port project would, “create approximately 150 new jobs and an array of entrepreneurial opportunities for residents of Eleuthera and Bahamians in general.”

While the project will bring more jobs to the island, the plan has met some resistance from the locals in Eleuthera. A rival plan pitched by the One Eleuthera Foundation called for the southern tip of the island to be developed into a park that features a small condo-hotel project, canoe rentals, a dive center and horseback tours.

The Bahamas may have issued a preliminary approval for the Disney project Friday, the island chain’s Parliament must still agree to the plan once terms and conditions are hammered out and the proper safety and environmental testing is conducted.