I was overjoyed when the Throne Speech highlighted that a new marina for St George’s will become a reality in 2022.

The week before I was on Ordnance Island making a Facebook Live post about the economic benefits to St George’s, with all the yachts stopping over en route to the Caribbean. While there, I took time to convey how important our transatlantic marine traffic is to the economic and social health of the East End.

The St George’s marina announcement was an early Christmas present and shows that rebuilding the economic fortunes of our town indeed remains a critical priority for the Government and for me personally.

Developing the infrastructure of the East End creates jobs and opportunities for Bermudians. We, in the East End, are proud of our seafaring heritage and we have long been connected to the water.

Historically, the water is our lifeblood, be it in the fishing sector, the sporting sector or marine tourism. The water is all around us and it defines us.

I am particularly excited that the Ministry of Public Works will be renovating our St George’s marina. The preliminary steps are complete, the funding is secured and the work is about to begin.

It is our hope that this larger marina will not only look more aesthetically pleasing, but will also bring better functionality to a greater number of boats than before, making it easier to provide a wider array of services to the boats that both call it home and who visit our shores when they sail across the beautiful ocean.

The jobs that marinas create are varied. Larger marinas mean more boats, which means more capacity for service, which creates more sustainable businesses servicing those boats. From repairing boats to outfitting boats to furnishing boats to cleaning boats, there are so many businesses that thrive from a marina and so many jobs that can be created.

We East Enders know the sea and we know how important it is to invest in infrastructure for seafaring. I do look forward to not only the jobs this project will create in construction, but the jobs that will be created thanks to this larger and more modern marina.

• Kim Swan is a government backbencher and the MP for St George’s West (Constituency 2)