By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president is arguing “there’s no point” in improving the Building Code without proper enforcement, adding: “We’re good at creating laws we don’t manage.”

Leonard Sands, in a recent interview with Tribune Business prior to Clay Sweeting, minister of works and Family Island affairs, tabling coastal infrastructure design and ‘energy efficiency in construction’ guidance notes in the House of Assembly, asserted that while “there’s a regulation for everything” these are “just a bunch of paper” if not properly executed and enforced.

Voicing his belief that much of the multi-billion dollar damage inflicted by Hurricane Dorian was caused because persons “never followed the Code”, he added: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There’s no point in upgrading the Building Code. There just needs to be strict adherence to it.

“If you upgrade the Building Code and still don’t regulate building in the country, what’s the point? We’re good at creating legislation that we don’t manage. Upgrading the Building Code will not necessarily change anything unless you enforce whatever is being done. Effort would be better spent on enforcement than creating new Codes.

“We’re not short of regulations; we’re short of enforcement. In The Bahamas, we’re not short of regulations. There’s a regulation for everything. Unless that changes and we have more enforcement of the regulations that exist that [reforms] are just a bunch of paper that have no value to anyone.”

Mr Sands added that the existing Building Code, last updated some 22 years ago in 2003, was “fine” and made provision for devastating storms up to Category four and five hurricane strength. “We don’t have a challenge with that,” he reiterated.

“The damage we had with Dorian is not because we didn’t have a strong Building Code. It was because nobody followed the Building Code. If the Building Code was the issue every structure [on Abaco and Grand Bahama] would have been impacted. Not every structure was impacted. 

“If you tell me the problem was the Building Code, explain why some structures were not on the ground. If they followed the Code, is it because others didn’t follow the Building Code? Until we have proper discussions about what went wrong we’ll always go on spending millions of dollars when we’re not getting any value for it.”

Updating the Bahamas Building Code is a key condition for this nation to access $160m in Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financing that is intended to ensure The Bahamas has the best disaster risk management regime and governance in the Caribbean.

An IDB report, though, identified “the heavy workload at the Ministry of Public Works” as being among the key risks to the success of the project and its reform agenda because this threatens to delay the new Bahamas Building Code’s submission to Parliament for enactment into law. This is critical because the release of at least some of the $160m funding is tied to this happening.

Detailing the policy and reform commitments made by the Davis administration to secure this latest financing, the IDB document said that as part of the “risk reduction” focus these include “publication of an update of The Bahamas Building Code to avoid the increase of vulnerability of public and private infrastructure to natural hazards, in accordance with best international building practices”.

However, this was also identified as a potentially major obstacle to releasing the $160m financing. “ Setting out the “main risks”, the IDB warned that “the heavy workload at the Ministry of Public Works might delay the submission of the update of the National Building Code to Parliament for enactment, thus delaying the operation’s disbursement.

“This risk was assessed as medium-to-low. To mitigate this risk, the Ministry of Finance will engage in May through July with the Ministry of Public Works to prioritise the approval process and submission to Parliament,” the IDB report added.

“The commitment by the Government of The Bahamas to allocate resources to public sectors such as the Ministry of Public Works and Family Island Affairs, in addition to the allocation of resources to the Disaster Prevention Fund provides incentives for the sectoral implementation of ex-ante disaster risk reduction activities such as to support the enforcement of the updated building code for The Bahamas and increased regulatory standards.

“Even though the results achieved under the current policy-based loan by 2025 put The Bahamas as a leader in the Caribbean region in terms of disaster risk management governance, these should not be considered the final target. Building on the reforms supported through this operation, The Bahamas has the opportunity to further strengthen its disaster risk management governance and improve its iGOPP score over the medium-long term.”

Mr Sweeting, in a communication to the House of Assembly yesterday, acknowledged that the documents he tabled were part of accessing the IDB loan “which is focused on updating The Bahamas’ Building Code - the last substantial revision of which occurred in 2003”.

He added: “I should emphasise that the guidance notes seek to promote sound recommendations and best practices for consideration by both government entities and the private sector during the construction of public and private sector infrastructure.

“These documents address critical concerns, including the impact of climate change and the importance of energy efficiency in contemporary construction practices.... In the near future, my ministry will disseminate excerpts from both documents through various communication mediums.

“This will allow the private sector the opportunity to incorporate these recommendations into their building design and construction processes, thereby enhancing infrastructure reliability and efficiency. I wish to reiterate that these guidance notes are intended to serve as industry standards and best practice, supporting ongoing efforts to improve national infrastructure throughout The Bahamas,” Mr Sweeting continued.

“On a related note, I will soon provide a list of actions currently being undertaken, along with associated timeframes, for updating The Bahamas Building Code to achieve alignment with regionally and internationally recognised standards.”