On Thursday, we finally received the news that we have all been waiting on…the Fairmont Southampton project will get underway within the next quarter.

This statement from Gencom and Westend Properties Group is music to many ears. As the Government, we had hoped this would have happened sooner, but with the economic instability and supply chain issues facing the world, the process was delayed.

Persistence pays as we can now look toward reestablishing the Fairmont Southampton hotel as our preeminent hotel in Bermuda.

What does that mean for Mr and Mrs Bermuda? This project is critical for all of Bermuda!

The benefit to our economy will be immense. There will be hundreds of jobs for Bermudians in the construction phases, followed by the operational phase. The entire hotel will be gutted and refurbished. That means money spent on lighting, flooring, furniture, decor, among other things.

Externally, there will be landscaping and the construction of a new beach club. All of these projects will require capital injection and workers to carry them through.

Once the hotel reopens, we will need workers within all facets of the hotel operations. Yes, we have been required to offer concessions to help this project to go forward.

However, the reality is concessions are the norm for projects of this magnitude. Without these concessions there would be no project, and even with the concessions, our net revenues will far exceed what we are making from the site presently.

On a related note, many people are justifiably disappointed with the lack of flights to and from Bermuda this year. What must be understood is that airlines make their schedules based on projections and a large part of that is based on how many rooms a destination has available for visitors.

Currently we have minimal rooms, as our biggest hotel is out of commission. Once this hotel becomes operational again, it is a guarantee that our flight options will increase. The Fairmont Southampton reopening will provide an immediate boost in many ways.

The Progressive Labour Party Government is extremely pleased with our current position, and we urge you to join us and support this initiative.

• Jason Wade is the Progressive Labour Party MP for Constituency 30, Southampton East Central

• Comments are closed on political content until after the October 4 by-election to stem the flow of purposefully inflammatory and litigious comments during the election cycle. Users who introduce extreme partisan comments into other news content will be banned