Dorian relief extensions hailed ‘huge help’

Dorian relief extensions hailed ‘huge help’
Greg Laroda.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The government’s decision to extend the Special Economic Recovery Zone (Relief Order) 2019 to December has been hailed as a ‘huge help’ for the two islands left devastated by Hurricane Dorian.

The government has extended the Special Economic Recovery Zone (Relief Order) 2019 to December 2020 in the first instance, which will include all concessions currently available to Grand Bahama and Abaco. For the period January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021, the concessions will be extended to cover building materials only.

Greg LaRoda, president of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce told Eyewitness News the extension will be a “huge help” to the ongoing recovery process.

“It’s a help not just to persons purchasing but to businesses also in the islands by encouraging persons to shop locally,” LaRoda said.

“That was something we asked for on behalf of the businesses community.”

He added: “We asked for the government to extend the provisions at least until the end of the year. It’s great to see that they actually did do that. Hopefully we can come out of this COVID thing sooner rather than later so folks can go ahead with a lot of these repairs and recovery efforts. We are back in the hurricane season. We hope we don’t get another direct hit because that would be another setback the country definitely cannot afford at this time.”