By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net 

FUEL shortages, crumbling infrastructure, and decades of neglect have left Crooked Island residents struggling to maintain even the most basic services, with health care, transportation, and tourism all under strain.

Residents told The Tribune gasoline is being rationed, crippling daily life and leaving critical facilities such as the Colonel Hill Clinic without a reliable generator.

Tourism worker and teacher Sonia McKinney said the island has gone more than a week without a steady fuel supply.

“We was out of fuel from since last Monday,” she said. “They have a marina here at what they call the Crooked Island Lodge. They served us fuel one day, a little bit of fuel after they ran out, and that was it.”

The Tribune understands the island’s main supplier, Green Valley Service Station, has run dry, while Crooked Island Lodge is selling limited quantities for cars and boats but refusing to fill containers.

Residents said the shortages are worsened by unreliable mail boat service. Delays and cancellations due to rough seas or poor docking conditions often leave essential goods stranded in Nassau. Ms McKinney said locals have begged the government to reposition the dock, arguing that its current location prevents boats from unloading during bad weather.

The problem, she said, is decades old.

She spoke as Robert Dupuch-Carron, founder of Bahamas Aviation, Climate and Severe Weather Network (BACSWN), visited the island on a fact-finding mission, bringing with him medical supplies for the island’s clinic, which itself is in urgent need of upgrades. He also visited the clinic in the fellow MICAL island of Inagua.

BACSWN is behind a $427m plan to transform aviation safety and weather monitoring across the country, including the installation of 26 automatic weather observation systems (AWOS), 109 radars, and three monopulse secondary surveillance radars.

In Crooked Island, Timothy Thompson, a lifelong resident who turns 70 in two weeks, said fuel is sold for only a two-hour window each day, with strict limits on how much residents can buy.

“I learned to forecast that I know they do s***, and run out of fuel, so what I do is get my 20 gallon reserve for emergency purposes and hold that down because it’s hurricane season. You can’t depend on them cause they’ll serve gas until every God damn drop go,” he said.

He said gasoline can cost as much as $8 a gallon when supplies are low, and residents sometimes ferry fuel from Acklins.

Mr Thompson said missed deliveries are common, noting that one week the main vessel did not arrive because the operator was reportedly on vacation and no replacement was arranged. He said residents are fed up with years of inaction from successive governments.

“We are voiceless in the back here,” he said. “We been getting shafted for the last 30, 40 years — maybe 50! They a bunch of bullshitters. They only talk good when they want you vote, then after they get your vote they start disappearing.”

He criticised MICAL MP Basil McIntosh as “invisible” and said the island administrators “can only do so much.”

Beyond the fuel crisis, Mr Thompson described the island’s road network as a hazard. He said the same contractor has been working on road repairs for more than a decade without completion, leaving potholes that damage vehicles and endanger drivers.

Ms McKinney agreed, calling the slow progress “all political.”

At Colonel Hill Clinic, nurse Shonique Ferguson said the unreliable fuel supply and deteriorating infrastructure have disrupted operations.

She said the generator often fails because of the lack of fuel and that technicians who visited weeks ago have not returned to finish repairs.

“They did [send somebody] and it worked for a few weeks and went right back, so they have to send somebody else again,” she said.

Ms Ferguson said the roof leaks, the walls are cracking, and no maintenance staff are assigned to the site. A tarp covers part of the roof to prevent further water damage.

She added that Crooked Island shares one doctor with Acklins and Long Cay, who visits once a month. While she said a full-time doctor may not be necessary, she believes more frequent visits and faster lab results would improve care.

All three residents pointed to the outdated airport as another obstacle to the island’s development.

Mr Thompson said Prime Minister Philip Davis promised in June that work would begin on extending the runway but no progress has been made.

“June been gone, and we need that airport, because that airport is the key. That airport been there from 1966, and it’s only 3000 feet — that’s why planes can’t land here!” he said.

Ms Ferguson added that a longer runway would allow for faster medical evacuations and emergency responses. “The airport really needs to be sorted out on this island. That would help with the air ambulance and all of that,” she said.

Ms McKinney said improving the airport would also boost tourism, which continues to suffer from travel delays and lost luggage. “They don’t consider us enough. You know, we have hundreds of tourists that come through here every year, and it’s a shame to see that,” she said.

She recalled a recent visitor who flew in for a week of fishing but received his luggage only on the day he departed.

Residents said they feel forgotten by the government, lacking even basic services such as customs and immigration officers to process visiting yachts and flights.

Despite the hardships, Ms Ferguson said clinic staff continue to do their best to care for the community. But, she added, a more stable fuel supply and investment in infrastructure would make our jobs easier and improve healthcare for residents.