By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

A leading engineer yesterday warned it cannot be “business as usual” with post-Dorian recovery because the damage to The Bahamas’ housing stock is “staggering and overwhelming”.

Quentin Knowles, the Bahamas Society of Engineers (BSE) president, told Tribune Business he was “surprised” that the joint Dorian damages assessment produced by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other multilateral agencies did not place a higher value on rebuilding costs and economic losses.

“I’m surprised that the IDB calculations are that low,” he argued. “There is total devastation up there. I am hopeful that when the reconstruction happens there will be a lot of opportunities available for everyone. I’m hoping it is done right and the reconstruction efforts, I am hoping, will turn a very negative situation into a positive.

“I have read most of the report on the IDB’s website. Needless to say the numbers are staggering and overwhelming. Eleven million square feet of damaged structures says it all. Business as usual will not cut it in the recovery effort. The government must find a more effective way of engaging the private sector, which I believe is more than capable of rebuilding Abaco and Grand Bahama.”

The report said Hurricane Dorian left almost 3,000 homes “uninhabitable”, and 7,339 “severely damaged”, as it inflicted a $1.487bn impact on the housing sector in Abaco and Grand Bahama.

The long-awaited assessment of the category five storm’s financial impact projected that this nation has taken a total $3.438bn hit through physical damage, economic/revenue losses and “additional costs” related to issues such as the Grand Bahama oil spill and environmental damage.

Housing, not surprisingly, was identified as the sector most impacted by Dorian with around 9,000 homes - representing more than 11 million square feet of physical property - damaged to some degree by its winds, storm surge, falling trees and flying debris.

“The report on the website seems to be missing the section detailing their recommendations; this I would like to see,” Mr Knowles said. “These recommendations will be, in my estimation, most important. The report talks of best practices and the five pillars of resilient reconstruction.

“We must use tried and true methods, based upon the lessons learned from other disasters from around the world. There is no need to reinvent the wheel here. I see the Government being primarily the facilitator to make this reconstruction happen, engaging and co-ordinating local and foreign expertise, the local construction industry and local and foreign non-governmental organisations.

“Marsh Harbour is the heart of their economic activity, so what I have seen in Abaco is nothing happening there. There is no business happening there. There is no place to stay,” Mr Knowles added. “I think to get this jump-started they need to get homes back on Abaco through the proposed ‘dome city’ idea the Government floated.

“Housing is the main obstacle to getting the economy jump-started. Everything in Abaco is booked out and there is nowhere for anyone to stay even if they wanted to come back. Basically, excursions come in in the day and leave by the evening. “

Meanwhile Abaco’s Chamber of Commerce president, Ken Hutton, told Tribune Business that the IDB’s estimated economic output loss for the island is “a lot more than 7.3 percent.”

Amos Ferguson, former president of the Institute of Bahamian Architects, said that while the IDB report deals more with financial data and statistics, the numbers could be accurate and a fair reflection of what the damage was on Abaco and Grand Bahama.

“From the physical part of it, you need to put in place some serious programmes for rebuilding. It’s a tough one but it could be done. A lot of those places are demolished totally,” he said.

“The first thing is that they have to not do the same thing. We need to do some planning ahead and put some stringent policies in place. A lot of the destruction was as a result of shoddy construction. Even some of the structures that were recently built were not up to code. Steps have to be taken to ensure that proper construction is done.”