The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

DISASTER Reconstruction Authority Alex Storr has taken exception to those who say the organisation is ineffective, insisting they are working hard.

Mr Storr and a team from DRA travelled to Sweeting’s Cay at the weekend to inspect the completion of a septic tank project for 17 residents to receive occupancy certificates for their homes.

“We have a number of projects on our table,” stressed Mr Storr. “We are hard at work; I saw someone in the House of Assembly dare to say the DRA has done nothing and is not working.

“But from we came into office we had clean up the monumental mess that we met, restructuring the authority, and then properly planning the projects and overseeing those that were in progress.”

The need for septic tanks on Sweeting’s Cay was one of the first issues that the DRA was notified about when Mr Storr took office.

Mr Storr said logistics was a huge challenge that caused delays.

“It took a while to plan and facilitate, and I would say it was a year in the making, but now we have completed it,” he said.

He said residents who relocated to mainland Grand Bahama or other islands can start moving back home.

Mr Storr said residents can now have some normalcy after Dorian.

After the storm in 2019, many Sweeting’s Cay residents received assistance from NGOs to rebuild their homes, however they could not get electrical supply because they could not get an occupancy certificate due to the lack of proper septic systems that were damaged after the storm.

The DRA was notified of the problem and hired a contractor, Board House Supplies, to carry out the project.

During the project, he said one of the major challenges was difficulty in getting supplies on the island.

“On the ride over, the channel is very shallow, but with the help of the contractor, we got the septic tanks here. We had a resident that canvassed the area to see who needed septic tanks and the list was provided.”

Mr Storr said the DRA’s work is ongoing and any resident on Sweeting’s Cay who is still in need of assistance should contact the office.

The DRA is working with NGOs to facilitate repairs in Grand Bahama and Abaco.

According to Storr, several contracts have been signed for home repairs which should begin shortly on both islands.

“We are in the process of demobilising the Debris Management Sites on Abaco - that is a major environmental win to able to take those sites, dismantled them, and have that land cleared.”

Mr Storr noted they are also building an all-purpose shelter to serve Abaco.

“We unfortunately found out many things the DRA did prior to us coming to office and we had to fix the problems, and the project is now going on quickly and we should be finished by the end of the year,” he said.

The chairman encouraged people who are aware of issues to notify the DRA so the problems could be addressed. “In Abaco, there was a derelict vessel in the city centre for two years after Dorian and when persons brought it to us, we had it removed,” he said.

At least 50 home repairs are going on now in Abaco, and there will be more in the coming weeks, said a DRA official.