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DRA to construct 100-unit, 20 mil. housing development on Abaco

Mon, May 17th 2021, 07:58 AM
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Through technical assistance from the Bahamas Development Bank (BDB), the Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA) is planning to construct a 100-unit housing development to meet the rental needs on Abaco within the next fiscal year.

DRA Chairman John-Michael Clarke said the authority is seeking to build the rental housing development through a public-private partnership at an estimated cost of around $15 to $20 million.
Clarke said the determination was made to develop the rental complex after realizing the high number of residents who were renting, particularly those who worked for the government on the island, when the deadly Category 5 Hurricane Dorian left many of them homeless.
“What we have planned is, we know that a great number of those persons were actually renting and we’ve recognized the need to assist with the rental inventory on Abaco. That’s one segment where there is a lot of potential and the persons that used to rent are being sorely underserviced. Right now, we just recently met with the agency heads to determine the rental needs for the public officers and with technical assistance from the Bahamas Development Bank, we are actually conceptualizing and modeling a rental housing development for Abaco,” Clarke told Guardian Business.
“It is planned to have constructed at least 100 units and we would be looking to do this as a public-private partnership. This would be just outside the Spring City area, so it would be close to Marsh Harbour. Our timeline is to do this within the next fiscal year. This would be one of our signature housing projects for 2021/2022.
“The model that we discussed would be between $15-20 million potentially. The technical officers at Bahamas Development Bank have done their preliminary presentation; they have to come back. There were some questions that our board operations committee had, there are some finer details relative to this development that need to be worked out, but based on the preliminary data, it is a very viable project; it looks very promising.”
As rebuilding efforts drag on nearly two years after the storm made landfall on September 1, 2019, one of the biggest challenges government officials and community leaders have lamented is the lack of housing to support contractors and construction workers, who need somewhere to live while they rebuild.
Clarke said he believes there is sufficient manpower to rebuild faster, but housing remains an issue.
“If it’s a public-private partnership, either one or more construction partners on the island of Abaco or outside of Abaco, we would impress upon them to assist with the project. Just as they are doing now, you have one or two construction companies that are resident on New Providence that had to set up man camps in order to get the work done. So, this type of project will follow suit,” he said.

DRA Chairman John-Michael Clarke said the authority is seeking to build the rental housing development through a public-private partnership at an estimated cost of around $15 to $20 million.

Clarke said the determination was made to develop the rental complex after realizing the high number of residents who were renting, particularly those who worked for the government on the island, when the deadly Category 5 Hurricane Dorian left many of them homeless.

“What we have planned is, we know that a great number of those persons were actually renting and we’ve recognized the need to assist with the rental inventory on Abaco. That’s one segment where there is a lot of potential and the persons that used to rent are being sorely underserviced. Right now, we just recently met with the agency heads to determine the rental needs for the public officers and with technical assistance from the Bahamas Development Bank, we are actually conceptualizing and modeling a rental housing development for Abaco,” Clarke told Guardian Business.

“It is planned to have constructed at least 100 units and we would be looking to do this as a public-private partnership. This would be just outside the Spring City area, so it would be close to Marsh Harbour. Our timeline is to do this within the next fiscal year. This would be one of our signature housing projects for 2021/2022.

“The model that we discussed would be between $15-20 million potentially. The technical officers at Bahamas Development Bank have done their preliminary presentation; they have to come back. There were some questions that our board operations committee had, there are some finer details relative to this development that need to be worked out, but based on the preliminary data, it is a very viable project; it looks very promising.”

As rebuilding efforts drag on nearly two years after the storm made landfall on September 1, 2019, one of the biggest challenges government officials and community leaders have lamented is the lack of housing to support contractors and construction workers, who need somewhere to live while they rebuild.

Clarke said he believes there is sufficient manpower to rebuild faster, but housing remains an issue.

“If it’s a public-private partnership, either one or more construction partners on the island of Abaco or outside of Abaco, we would impress upon them to assist with the project. Just as they are doing now, you have one or two construction companies that are resident on New Providence that had to set up man camps in order to get the work done. So, this type of project will follow suit,” he said.

 

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