Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis announced in the House of Assembly yesterday that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) received $5 million in relief funds from various international communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian.

Dr. Minnis, speaking for the first time in Parliament following Hurricane Dorian, updated legislators to what has been collected and how the funds will be used.

In terms of the contingency loan from the Inter-American Development Bank, a line of credit on standby in the event of a natural disaster, Dr. Minnis gave preliminary estimates of how that money will be spent.

“Electricity restoration $30 million, water restoration $15 million, enhanced social welfare spending $30 million, debris removal and cleanup $15 million, reimbursement of evacuation and shelter cost $1 million and unallocated funds $9 million,” Dr. Minnis said.

According to the prime minister, these estimates are subject to adjustment and further refinement.

Dr. Minnis added that last November, the government amended legislation governing dormant accounts with the intention of using this money to pump into a disaster relief fund.

That fund totals nearly $40 million, half of which will be used for recovery and reconstruction.

The prime minister told the House of Assembly that $10 million will go towards providing support for small businesses in the economic impacted zones, $5 million for temporary housing in the affected areas and the remaining $5 million for other hurricane recovery efforts.

Dr. Minnis also revealed that The Bahamas has also received $12.8 million from the Caribbean Catastrophic Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) following a renegotiation last May.

“The renegotiation divided The Bahamas into three distinct zones and structured payouts, to allow for more relevant and fair assessment and payouts after an event,” Dr. Minnis said.

“The Bahamas has three tropical cyclone policies and three excess rainfall policies with CCRIF, each covering a section or zone of our archipelago: northwest, southeast and central.
“The government received $11,527,151 from the triggering of its tropical cyclone policy and $1,297,002 from its excess rainfall policy for the northwest zone, which includes Abaco and Grand Bahama.” 

He further revealed that as of September 30, NEMA’s monetary donation totaled $5.1 million, which does not include pledges.

“Corporate $1,362,025.02, private $1,325,388.97, foreign government $1,901,250, NGOs $345,343.53 and intergovernmental $225,000,” Dr. Minnis said.

Dr. Minnis also told the House of Assembly that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) intends to contribute $1 million for Hurricane Dorian recovery efforts, which he said “will guarantee technical assistance in early recovery interventions for crucial areas according to the programme.”