The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Grand Bahama businessman yesterday said that while large companies have their “heads above the water” many persons are still not receiving the assistance needed to rebound from Hurricane Dorian.

James Rolle, Dolly Madison’s general manager, told Tribune Business that “nothing much” has happened on the island since Hurricane Dorian’s devastating storm surge and category four/five winds swept through the island two years ago in early September 2019.

“A lot of people are still trying to put their homes back together and, by extension, trying to put their lives back together. The support they have had from the NGO’s (non-governmental organisations) and the Government has been somewhat helpful to some people, but I think a lot of people have still been left out of the loop,” he said.

“A lot of things have become politicised now and that makes things worse. The business community is pretty much surviving. The larger businesses on the island have their head above water. But you really can’t boost the economy good until people start to go back to work and have disposable income. So we’re just doing the best we have with what we’ve got.”

Alfredo Bridgewater, owner/operator of Coco Nutz, added: “Things have not picked up here as fast as I thought it would have recovered. Things are just chugging along. It’s still slower than I thought it would have been.”

That may also be due to the blow inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hurricane Dorian destroyed much critical infrastructure on Grand Bahama, especially its international airport. Mr Bridgewater said: “We still don’t have a fully functional airport, so that’s affecting us.

“The cruise port has not been as affected, but with the COVID-19 pandemic things are still moving slow. We had Hurricane Dorian, and now we’re dealing with the COVID-19, which has further slowed the recovery efforts from Dorian. Because of the pandemic, you really can’t blame it on someone.

“You have people’s houses that have not been repaired. A part of that is some of the people’s fault. A lot of the older people don’t know what the process is, and they have to go through a lot just to find out, but the system right now is overloaded. I have a couple of aunts that wanted assistance and were unable to get it because they came too late.”