It’s a mammoth task, but according to Minister of the Environment and Housing Romauld Ferreira, the process of removing the estimated 1.5 billion pounds of debris left behind by Hurricane Dorian has begun.

“Notwithstanding the tens of millions of dollars, there are volunteer agencies here on the ground.  There are private citizens on the ground that have begun the debris removal, certainly from their homes and their premises,” Ferreira said last Friday.

“Another facet of debris removal would have to be the insurance adjusters, particularly for those homes and businesses that were insured.  They would go through that process and the larger scale debris would take a little bit more time.”  

The Ministry of Public Works is expected to travel to Abaco on Monday to start removing larger debris on that island. A team is already there identifying laydown sites and to assist in sorting.

“During Hurricane Matthew, there were laydown sites in New Providence and there were no attempts made to really sort and sometimes that creates a bigger problem in the end, so we intend to manage the process,” Ferreira said.

The minister has revealed that it’s an exercise that will take tens of millions of dollars, money the public treasury does not have.  

However, international partners stand ready to assist.