It has been almost three months since Hurricane Dorian slammed into Abaco as a category five hurricane.
Dorian entirely wiped out and displaced thousands at The Mudd shantytown which was one of the hardest impacted areas and one of the largest communities in Abaco that was turned to rubble.
Managing Director of Bahamas Striping Group of Companies, Dr. Allen Albury said, “We are making significant progress as this was an enormous task as we have completed removing sixty percent (60%) of the construction and green debris.”
More than halfway through its, three month contract, Caribbean Pavement Solutions, a subsidiary of Bahamas Striping, has invested well over $1.5 million in heavy equipment and has plans to bring in additional equipment to support the operation.
On Friday, The Minister of Works, The Honorable Desmond Bannister led a delegation from The Ministry of Works to tour the ongoing disaster recovery work at The Mudd, along with the Management team from Bahamas Striping Group of Companies.
Amid the landscape of rubble and debris the Minister has indicated that the contractors are doing an exceptional job as they have the equipment to get the job done.v He said, “This company of young Bahamians have done an exceptional job. We have had many persons from around the world try to come into the Bahamas to do this type of work and it is gratifying to know that we have been able to tell them that Bahamians can do the job in a satisfactory manner, and that is what I am seeing here today, especially a company being led by a young Abaconian and that is something special to share and to tell young children in this country that you can aspire to make a contribution and a difference.”
Although the site is being cleaned up, the Minister indicated that the site represents a decade of neglect in the country will be clean
During the walkabout, Bannister stated that The Mudd was a little city within itself and nothing was built to regulations.
“It must have been frightening to be here during the storm and we cannot permit that to ever happen again in The Bahamas. As a government governing a civilized society, we can no longer have persons living in unsanitary conditions and have illegal networks and connections of utilities to thrive. It is a challenge to stop persons from connecting these services this is being looked into by the Attorney General and Minister of National Security,” said Banister.
The Mudd area will be cleaned up and fenced in properly and once it is handed over to the government, decisions will be made.
Mr. Khadaff Whyms, President of KW Paving and Mr. Atario Mithcell, President of Bahamas Striping take Minister of Works, Hon. Desmond Bannister (center) on a tour of The Mudd in Abaco to assess the disaster recovery of the shantytown.
Minister of Works, Hon. Desmond Bannister (center) observes along with Dr. Allen Albury and Mr. Atario Mitchell of Bahamas Striping, and Mr. Khadaff Whyms of KW Paving, as debris is being removed from The Mudd site.
