By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

DISASTER Reconstruction Authority executive chairman Alex Storr said investigations launched on the dome project on Abaco, initiated by the previous government administration, found some residents were renting the temporary housing structures for monetary gain.

Mr Storr said he was alerted to the situation during his first visit to the island. An investigation was launched shortly afterwards, he added.

“The first dome we stopped to and (a man) told us that he was renting the dome from someone else which caused me to launch an immediate audit on the occupants for the domes. We now have that report where we know who’s supposed to be in the domes and who’s actually not so we’re dealing with all those situations.”

Mr Storr said he has also received reports that some dome tenants have even rented their homes.

“I also got report that there was somebody who was renting their house that moved into a dome because they’re renting their house so there’s a lot of stories, some could be substantiated and some can’t but we will try to deal with it on a cases by case basis and see how we can bring a resolution to each one,” he added.

This comes as the authority is seeking to find alternative housing for Abaco residents who are still living in the domes.

Yesterday, Mr Storr said officials want to transition dome dwellers into permanent homes “within the next few months,” adding the government is willing to provide as much support as possible.

He said: “The Prime Minister is trying to make the best arrangements and see how best he can assist those persons that in the domes to get them out of there as soon as possible. Because, it never was intended to be long term housing and many of them have been in there over a year or more now and we’re trying to see what their individual circumstances are and how we can best assist them to see how they can get out of the domes and into their houses as quick as possible.”

The Minnis administration spent more than $6m on nearly 200 domes that were supposed to be used as temporary housing for Abaco and Grand Bahama residents after Hurricane Dorian.

According to Mr Storr, some 39 dome structures have been erected in Spring City, Abaco to date.

“When I last checked, there are at least four (domes) that are possibly vacant. I don’t know how many residents are in each of the domes that are occupied…but going by that, I’ll say there are 35 families.”

Asked how the domes will be used moving forward, the DRA chairman suggested the agency wants to find another purpose for the housing structures.

However, he said a decision in that regard will ultimately be made by Cabinet.

“We are going to re-evaluate the use of the domes and it is my opinion and persons on my project team is that the way those domes are installed right now is quite problematic and there are some persons that have issues with molds and other issues in the domes,” he told The Tribune. 

“I don’t think that they were properly installed on the plywood footings that they had them on…. because the way there were installed there’s no way they can survive a 135mph hurricane and so we want to re-evaluate the domes and perhaps even re-purpose them.”

“But right now, the use of those domes was by a cabinet paper and mandated by Cabinet so we would have to go back to Cabinet with a solution before we could come up with other uses for them.”

Yesterday, Mr Storr also spoke on the agency’s plans to further reconstruction efforts on the island 

“ The main two projects right now would be the restart of the Abaco centre which is the hurricane shelter on Abaco,” he said, “and we have met with the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and hope to sign off on an agreement/ donation this week and that will enable us to restart that project. It’s going to re-design that project because there were issues with the design that was being used. Hopefully, once the shelter has been done properly, they can then be duplicated around the country because you know we have no-purpose hurricane shelters.”

Plans are also underway to resume the agency’s Small Homes Repair programme, he added.

“We are getting ready to start the assessments for those that are qualified for the small home repair programme. We are going to restart that but we’re also revamping it and our aim is to close up as many houses as soon as possible with the upcoming hurricane season,” he added.

Hurricane Dorian hit Abaco on September 1, 2019 as a Category 5 hurricane before barreling toward Grand Bahama.

The storm left thousands of homes either destroyed or damaged and hundreds of residents displaced.