Rebuilding of hurricane-affected houses to be completed in another three months

Despite encountering some hiccups, Government has repaired approximately 50 per cent of the houses damaged by the passage of Hurricane Elsa and last year’s freak storm.

This was revealed today by Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance, Dwight Sutherland, who said he was hoping all work would be completed by the end of August.

A timeline of six months had initially been given for the completion of repairs and rebuilding of the houses that were damaged when Hurricane Elsa struck on July 2, 2021, causing significant damage.

Of the 2106 incidents of house damage reported by the Disaster Emergency Management (DEM), around 500 houses were assessed as having to be rebuilt.

Speaking to reporters following a tour of Rock Hall, St Philip, Sutherland said the increase in the prices of materials caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine was among the challenges that had hampered efforts.

“We have done roughly about 50 per cent of the repairs. It has been slow. Materials have gone up coming on to the end of the financial year. The Government is on an IMF programme, this is nothing to hide, and we had to make sure all of the dots lined up so the process of disbursements slowed up.

“In addition we had COVID, some contractors had challenges and we were also battling with landlord/tenant issues, where a house was destroyed by the hurricane and then we go to rebuild the house and you hear, ‘not on this land’. Contractors were even run off of properties with cutlasses in St Philip because the landlords said, ‘Not bout hey, you ain’t building no house bout hey,’” Sutherland said.

The minister admitted that Government had also encountered some challenges finding accommodation for the hundreds of Barbadians who had been dislocated as a result of Elsa.

“In addition we’ve had challenges finding accommodation for every single person. Currently we are going through our national housing fleet of estates, the 49 housing estates, to see persons who have units but are not living in them. We are seeking to come up with some arrangement with them for the next two to three months so that by the end of August every single person should be back in their homes. We are working towards that.

“It is a challenge, it is a task, but we have some 47 EastWest [East West Building Solutions Barbados] houses, those are the light gauge steel houses that are part of that Hurricane Elsa project, we have already allocated through National Housing, through Eastwest and other builders. Materials have been given to 213 persons to repair their houses. This has cost the Government a lot of money but we have to do it. We have to do it,” Sutherland said. randybennett@barbadostoday.bb