The domes at the government’s Family Relief Center in Spring City, Abaco.
NASSAU, The Bahamas--The government hopes to demolish domes in Spring City, Abaco, next month, Minister of Transport and Housing JoBeth Coleby-Davis said on Thursday.
She said a team, which comprises the Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA) and the Department of Social Services, is in Abaco.
Coleby-Davis said the team is issuing letters to residents of the domes who need assistance with relocating.
“Social services will be providing an update on the amount that they have allocated to assist those persons with relocation,” she said.
“I am hoping that I can demolish the domes in August. We already have a site plan created by the Department of Housing and I think that that property can hold about 11 homes. So, we are hoping to start working on that very soon.”
Thirty-six domes in Spring City are occupied, according to DRA Executive Chairman Alex Storr.
Abaco was devastated by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019.
The government established the domes on Abaco and Grand Bahama, which was also impacted by Dorian, not long after the storm. The project cost about US $6.4 million but was never completed, with half of them still sitting in trailers nearly three years later.
Many Abaco residents have expressed concerns about the housing crisis caused on the island following the storm.
Coleby-Davis provided details Thursday on housing initiatives aimed at addressing this issue on Abaco.
“We have 10 of our homes with walls up already, so hopefully they will be starting on the roofs very soon,” she said.
“… I don’t know if you recall in my budget communication when I spoke about the two projects that I had gotten from former Prime Minister [Hubert – Ed.] Ingraham.
“One of them was a massive housing project with a big plot of land that could take a good number of homes. So, the architect is now working toward re-looking at the property and seeing if it’s still in the state where it was years [ago] when that was being considered.”
She said her team has determined that “we are in a 95 percentile to use that property.”
Coleby-Davis said if that estimate is determined to be true, then the government will move forward with the project. ~ The Nassau Guardian ~
