Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham Assesses Eleuthera over two days - North, Central and South

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham greets local Administrators.

Visits with island councillors, affected home owners and damaged infrastructure. Promises to help restore normalcy as soon as possible.

(Eleuthera, The Bahamas) Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Hubert Ingraham on what he has described as the last last leg of his tour of islands in the archipelago affected by Hurricane Irene began a two day visit to the island of Eleuthera on Tuesday September 13th, 2011.  The Prime Minister flew into the North Eleuthera International Airport at about 3:30pm, where he was greeted by Administrators Chrisfield Johnson for Central Eleuthera, and Preston Cunningham for North Eleuthera as well as Mr. Theo Neilly, Chief Councillor for North Eleuthera and reported favoured prospect for the Free National Movement's North Eleuthera candicacy, should the current MP and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Alvin Smith choose not to contest the 2012 national elections.


Touring the Harbour Island Community Clinic. Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham (center) listens to the issues affecting the staff of the facility. Immediately behind Mr. Ingraham (L-R) are Administrator Central Eleuthera, Chrisfield Johnson, MP North Eleuthera, Alvin Smith and Administrator North Eleuthera, Preston Cunningham.
 
Mr. Smith accompanied the Prime Minister, as he visited Harbour Island, The Bogues, The Bluff and Gene’s Bay dock which was one of several docks on the island badly damaged by the storm.  The Prime Minister appeared to pay close attention in Harbour Island to the state of the roads and paid a visit to the island's clinic which is in need of repair, with damage sustained to its roof, in addition to the need to have its air-conditioning system made operational.  During his visit the Prime Minister commented on the state of the Harbour Island clinic, saying, "The public health facility requires significant work, and the National Insurance Board owns that clinic, and that's in my portfolio.  So they will be getting on to that in short order."


Prime Minister Ingraham spends a few moments with the NEHS marching band.

In North Eleuthera, the Prime Minister paid a visit to the high school (NEHS) where Principal Frank Jones pointed out roof damage on one of the classroom blocks and spoke briefly about other needs of the school.  Before leaving the campus, Mr. Ingraham stopped in for a short visit with the school's marching band during a practice session.  The NEHS band gained national notoriety as the first non-police band to be invited to perform at the Police Beat Retreat in 2010.  

During a short interview at the Gene's Bay dock, Prime Minister Ingraham, shared that he was concluding his tour of Bahamian islands that have been affected by the hurricane, saying, "Eleuthera is the last major island I haven't been to.  So I came here this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon to South and Central Eleuthera. I'm also preparing to make a national report on the hurricane and the responses we have made to it so far, and I also wanted to have a bird's eye view myself, of the various damages, so as to assist in determining priorities for the reconstruction exercise.  NEMA is continuing to provide support and assistance to the communities and utility companies are doing an excellent job restoring electricity and public works is doing assessment of the various infrastructure and so are the education people and then we'll be able to layout to the public shortly how we are going to prioritize it over a period of time."


Prime Minister Ingraham, inspecting the the Gene's Bay Ferry Dock which was left in a badly battered state after the passing of Irene.

Before leaving North Eleuthera, Ingraham also commented on the two major ferry docks servicing Harbour Island and Spanish Wells, which are now both in terrible condition, saying, "The dock to go to Harbour Island [Three Island dock], we are doing a major - several million dollar, project on that site, and the contract will be signed for that in short order."  He continued, highlighting the Gene's Bay dock where he stood at the time, saying, "This ferry dock is used for Spanish Wells and it was in reasonably bad shape before the hurricane and the hurricane has now made it totally bad, so this here will be high on the Ministry of Public Works list for restoration."

Ingraham also spoke about current infrastructure challenges in Harbour Island, commenting, "In North Eleuthera, there are things I knew off, like the condition of the roads in Harbour Island, which are unconnected to the hurricane. They are as a result of the installation of water in Harbour Island.  I am pleased that I can come to Harbour Island now and there is no complaint about the water supply.  There has always been a complaint about water supply in Harbour Island, which is now behind us.  We've now got to restore the roads."

In all it was about a 3 hour visit on Tuesday before he returned to Nassau overnight.
 
On Wednesday Mr. Ingraham took an afternoon flight into the Rock Sound International airport in South Eleuthera, where he drove through the southern settlements making his own assessment of how they withstood the force of Irene.


PM Ingraham speaks with the South Eleuthera District Council members.

At the Rock Sound airport, the Prime Minister who again travelled with MP Alvin Smith was greeted by the Administrator Charles King, Councilors and MP for South Eleuthera, Oswald Ingraham and other government officials. Before leaving on his South Eleuthera tour, he met with the South Eleuthera District Council, and listened as each town chairman gave an overview of the damages and effects of Irene in their townships.  MP for South Eleuthera, Oswald Ingraham, who also addressed the Prime Minister briefly, asked him about the question of duty free exemptions for Eleutherans.  In response the Prime Minister answered that persons in need of assistance would be handled on a case by case basis, and he encouraged those in need to make application to the local administrative office for customs exemptions.  

Prime Minister Ingraham, during the session also commented on the plight of Eleuthera, as an island having been directly affected by various hurricanes during the past two decades, specifically harking back to his 'baptism' as soon as he entered office as Prime Minister in 1992, with the late summer strike of the infamous hurricane Andrew.


The PM visits the Preston H. Albury Secondary School in Rock Sound.

In Rock Sound, in addition to viewing homes with damage, he stopped into the Preston H. Albury Secondary School where he visited a building - now used for carpentry and other vocational classes, that had part of its roof damaged and the Rock Sound primary school where he saw structural cracking caused by the storm. In Savannah Sound he took time to visit with affected residents on the mainland as well as travelling over to Windermere Island to take a look at some of the damage suffered by homeowners and developments there.


PM visits homeowners with major roof damage in Palmetto Point.

In Palmetto Point, where some of the most serious damage occurred to homes, he visited with homeowners who lost their roofs or parts of their roofs, reassuring them that the assistance they needed would be seen to.  He also made a brief stop by the Emma Cooper primary school, where repairs to the badly damaged roof over the grade 6 classroom, were actioned and completed by private donors, before the beginning of the new school year.

During a number of stops made to individual homes and developments in Central Eleuthera, locals expressed relief at the PM's arrival, with one expressing, "It's nice to see they have finally come."; while another shared a concern of a festering sentiment that the PM did not care about the island in light of the three week absence following the hurricane.


PM Ingraham listening as Governor's Harbour's town chairman, Lionel Fernander, describes the affect of Hurricane Irene on the town, during a meeting with members of the Central Eleuthera District Council.

At the Governor's Harbour administration building, the Prime Minister met with the Central Eleuthera District Council, hearing from each township chairman, as he had in South Eleuthera, on the needs and impact of Irene on their communities.  In response to the presentations, Ingraham first described to the local representatives the government's actions immediately following the hurricane, saying, "After the hurricane, the first place we dispatched anyone was to Eleuthera..., the day after the hurricane to fly over the island in a helicopter and to report on it. We also had a very detailed assessment of damage in Eleuthera and in Abaco and subsequently in Cat Island, so I know much of what you are talking about - probably most of what you told me - and have access to it by the internet.  We had people on the ground out of Florida, who also made checks in Abaco, because they had done it before, and they included Eleuthera, and then Cat Island."

After detailing immediate actions after Irene, the Prime Minister responded directly to issues of damages raised, saying, "The government will do all it can to cause you to be restored to a state of normalcy as soon as is possible - beginning with the homeowners that require assistance.  Today, we gave instructions to NEMA to establish lines of credit for businesses who supply materials - for persons who are in need of immediate assistance - through the Eleuthera Supply company - to authorize them to be able to extend up to $20,000.  In Palmetto Point we did the same for Unique Hardware and the Lord Byron's company, and we are doing likewise in South Eleuthera.  That will take care of the immediate..."

Eyeing the South Palmetto Point dock, devastated by Hurricane Irene

He also revealed his surprise to discover during his most recent report from BEC management that the greatest damage to BEC's electrical supply system occurred on the island of Eleuthera.  The Prime Minister expounded, sharing, "In fact, BEC is of the view that your damage was greater than the entire damage done to their supply in all the other islands of the Bahamas."  He went on to laud the work that BEC had done in the island so far, and explained that because of the extent of the damage, BEC had to strategically work to get customers back on service, while leaving some pole restoration projects for a later time.

Ingraham continued his response, touching on public infrastructure, saying that it would be prioritized by the government in a systematic way and restored.  He also encouraged suggestions on the order of priority from the local government reps and encouraged them to take certain projects in hand locally, preparing a budget for restoration and managing it on the ground, saying, "For the work that will be required, if you rely on the Ministry of Public Works, it will take far, far too long to be able to achieve our objective.  But be assured that you will not be ignored or neglected or dealt with unfairly.  We are aware of the need of this community."

The Prime Minister wrapped up the session with the issue of customs exemptions, commenting, "In so far as duty free is concerned, we are going to do so, on a case by case basis. It is not possible for us to consider declaring the island of Eleuthera duty exempt.  You are a revenue generating island, and the government gets its revenue from customs duty... However, individual cases can come forward and applications forms are at the Administrator's office."  He continued, "We are also putting in a means by which you can buy your materials locally, and we can then tell the merchant who is selling to you, that you will pay him back the duty... This way, we do as much as we can, to have as much of the monies that we have to spend be spent locally within your community.  Generally speaking, you are an enterprising people, very independent, and I'm happy to note that a number of people have already restored their homes, and we want to encourage that, so if you don't need assistance from the government, please don't seek to get it, so the funds can be available for those who really need it and deserve it."

When asked at the conclusion of his two day tour of the island, what he was coming away with, the Prime Minister answered, "Most of what I discovered today, I know.  I came to verify and hear directly from people.  We have a set of programs that are going to be rolled out in terms of restoration here in Eleuthera, and you will begin to see evidence of that soon."

Prime Minister Ingraham departed the island for New Providence, moments to 8pm on Wednesday, from the North Eleuthera airport, having spent approximately 5 hours on the ground in South and Central Eleuthera.

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