It has been almost three months since Hurricane Dorian slammed into Abaco as a Category 5 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 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, Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister led a delegation from The Ministry of Public 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.
“This company of young Bahamians have done an exceptional job,” he said. “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, 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. 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.
