The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Chamber’s chairman yesterday said Hurricane Matthew’s devastation has strengthened his call for the Bahamas to establish its own storm insurance fund to guard against natural disasters.

Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business that it “should be common sense” for the Bahamas to take measures to safeguard its financial security, given the increasing severity of hurricanes and the frequency with which they impacted islands in this nation.

He added that the Government needed to set aside a portion of its annual Budget spending every year to create, and invest in, such a fund, which could then ease the financial burden of infrastructure repairs and disaster relief.

Noting that he first mentioned the idea after Hurricane Joaquin struck the southern Bahamas last year, creating $100 million worth of damage, Mr Bowe said governments needed to be “as wise” as those nations living on earthquake fault-lines.

“We should not be seeking to address a threat or development every time it happens,” he told Tribune Business. “We should be saying to ourselves that the probability of being hit every year is greater than zero, and we should be establishing that fund to assist.

“Every year we set monies aside. If the fund grows and we do not use it, we can look at self-insurance and investing it.”

Prime Minister Perry Christie on Sunday estimated Matthew’s damages at three-four times’ the level of those inflicted by Joaquin, although it was unclear whether he was talking about the Government’s costs, total economic loss, insured and uninsured damages, or a combination of all three.

Whatever, the damage caused by Matthew is severe and widespread, with some yesterday suggesting that it had dealt a $1 billion blow to the Bahamian economy, adding in all the above damages plus loss of future tourism bookings and earnings etc.

“Our administrations need to focus attention on setting aside funds on an annual basis where they can accumulate,” Mr Bowe told Tribune Business of the proposed hurricane insurance fund.

“I always find it disappointing that we have unexpected events that teach us to do things that should have been common sense given where we reside. I don’t think we should wait until it comes upon us to set monies aside.”

Mr Bowe likened the Bahamas’ present financial response to hurricane damage to a person who had failed to save for retirement, an event they knew was coming.

“If we’re in the hurricane belt and don’t set aside for it, we can’t be surprised if we have a blow to our financial affairs,” Mr Bowe told Tribune Business.

“This is a time when the silver lining to the disaster is how we look at becoming sustainable for the future, and not reacting to one event. Hopefully, this is the beginning of something innovative that provides long-term sustainability.”

Two locations that could make particular use of a hurricane insurance fund presently are Grand Bahama/Freeport and Andros.

Mr Bowe, who accompanied the Prime Minister’s delegation to Grand Bahama on Saturday, said they were informed on Saturday by officials on the island that some 700 electricity poles had been downed by Matthew.

With around 250 of those thought to carry transformers and other distribution equipment, Freeport and Grand Bahama-based businesses could be running off generator power for weeks.

“They’re going to have a long haul coming back,” Mr Bowe told Tribune Business. “It’s going to be a long slog for Freeport businesses because they’ll be running off their own power supply for a long time.”

Mr Bowe added that north Andros had taken a major hit, and said: “For the north Andros business community, it is something they are looking at as being an upward trek, but they are certainly in high spirits and prepared to put the shoulder to the wheel.”

Meanwhile, Dionisio D’Aguilar, Superwash’s president, said Hurricane Matthew had exposed a weakness in the fuel industry supply chain - especially the ability for suppliers to get deliveries to businesses and gas stations.

With Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) struggling to restore power to New Providence, Mr D’Aguilar said companies were having to consumer huge quantities of diesel to keep their generators running, and stores open.

“The challenge initially was getting diesel,” he explained. “That was the weak link. We have to keep generators going, and we have found post-Matthew that diesel is absolutely critical. That becomes a challenge when you have every business looking for diesel.”

Mr D’Aguilar said Superwash’s locations had seen more business than usual, as persons unable to use washing machines at home due to power outages.

“We have not been able to keep up with the demand,” he told Tribune Business. “At two locations, we’ve run out of water. The pump cannot keep up. When it runs out of water, it takes 12 hours to replenish, so we have to shut down for 12 hours.”

Mr D’Aguilar described the impacted locations as Robinson Road and Prince Charles Drive.