NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A total of $400,000 is owed to contractors for works done under the Small Home Repairs program to rebuild homes on Abaco and Grand Bahama in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, according to Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister Myles LaRoda.
“…The contractors would have done work; some of them are at the halfway point, some of them have been completed,” he said ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister.
“So, we do owe about, just north of $400,000 to those contractors who performed the work.
“As I said earlier those sources have been sources so those contractors will be notified shortly of when they will receive their funds.”
According to LaRoda, the government continues to review around 1,100 applicants for home repairs.
He said the government sourced funds to 2,600 residents at various stages of home repairs, ranging from $2,500 to $10,000.
According to the minister, a total of 3,700 people applied for assistance, but the former administration approved 2,600.
“We have to go back to Cabinet for approval for those other, let’s say under 1,100 people,”
“I expect that to be done pretty shortly
“I conveyed that message to both the leader of the opposition and the member of Parliament for East Grand Bahama.”
Asked why those 1,100 or so applicants were not previously approved, LaRoda said there were homes with varying degrees of damage that were supposed to be assessed, but “whether that was done entirely could be debated”.
There have been assertions of mismanagement surrounding the Small Home Repairs program on Grand Bahama and Abaco following the devastating impact of Hurricane Dorian in September 2019.
Last month, LaRoda said in Parliament that he was advised of a “gap” where the government spent $14 million without due diligence, though the minister did not provide substantive details concerning the claimed gap.
He did, however, detail several companies that were paid to remove debris without contracts.
For the Dorian Small Home Repairs, $1.5 million went to assisting Grand Bahamians and just shy of $600,000 assisted Abaconians with reconstructing their homes.
He also claimed that the $585,160 expended to Abaco assisted in the reconstruction of five homes in Central Pines, compared to the 17 homes built on Sweeting Cay by the Rotary Club for $1.5 million.
Based on the expenditures, the Rotary Club constructed each home for an average of $88,235 compared to the Small Home Repairs, which spent an average of $117,032 per home — a difference of nearly $30,000 per home.
LaRoda was asked what oversight changes had been made to ensure greater accountability.
The minister said while he did not wish to interfere with an ongoing audit of the Disaster Reconstruction Authority — a body enacted to handle the cleanup, recovery and reconstruction efforts after the deadly storm — there will be greater protocols and mechanisms to ensure accountability.
He said: “Moving forward, we have in place protocols and mechanisms that would be more detailed, more transparent, so the Bahamian people would know exactly how their funds have been spent.”
