Sept / Oct 2016 | Business View Caribbean

118 September 2016 - Business View Caribbean Business View Caribbean - September 2016 119 Island Site Development A young firm makes its mark Island Site Development (ISD) is a wholly Bahamian- owned civil engineering and infrastructure develop- ment company dedicated to civil works and commu- nity development. According to company COO, Naveen Gupta, the original name of ISD was BMC Underground Services, formed in 2009 to do all of the infrastructure work on the Albany Project on New Providence Island. Albany is a 600-acre luxury resort community jointly owned by the Tavistock Group and golfers Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, featuring upscale amenities including a mega-yacht marina, a championship golf course, res- taurants, private residences, and resort villas. “We completed that project at the end of 2010,” Gupta says. Next, the company won a contract for the Baha Mar project, the West Bay Street Realignment. The scope of work included the complete re-routing of a major thoroughfare with the installation of miles of new water main, sewer force main, gravity sewer, storm drainage, and telecom and electrical conduits. It was at this point that Gupta says the company need- ed a new structure and identity, so it brought together some partners in the form of a couple of local, fam- ily-owned construction firms and changed its name to Island Site Development. More projects followed including: underground infrastructure at Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club in the Abacos; the new National Stadium and Sports Complex in Nassau; the new 56.6 acre Port Facility on Arawak Cay; the Lynden Pindling International Airport; the Comfort Suites Resort on Paradise Island; and a new Maritime Institute on Crys- tal Cay, among others. A few years ago, ISD added an electrical component to its portfolio of civil infrastructure and water and sewer services, noting a lack of larger professional electrical contractors in the Bahamas. Chris Wilson, ISD’s Senior Project Manager explains: “There were a lot of smaller contractors,” he says. “So whenever a bigger job came up, a contractor from the States or Canada or some- where else was brought in to do the work. We saw that there was a need to fill the gap.” “So we started an electrical division,” Gupta says. “Currently, about 40 percent of ISD’s business is electrical work.” Now in its seventh year of operation, Gupta reports that ISD’s clientele is currently split evenly between government entity work and private development - and all of it close to home. Because while ISD is always on the lookout for potential overseas projects, it has to be prudent about whom it works for - especially since AT A GLANCE WHO: Island Site Development WHAT: A civil engineering and infrastructure development company WHERE: Nassau, Bahamas Email : www.isdbahamas.com