The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Landscapers yesterday said the exemption allowing themselves and pool maintenance companies to operate two days per week during the COVID-19 lockdown "didn't work then and is not working now".

Conray Rolle, interim chairman of the Bahamas Landscaping Association, told Tribune Business: "Considering that it just started that is going to affect my business tremendously. It is very ambiguous and I don't think there was a lot of forethought that went into it."

The "essential workers" of landscaping and pool maintenance companies have been allowed to operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 7am to 5pm, but Mr Rolle said this exemption "didn't work then and it is not working now".

He explained: "We will make the adjustment the best way we can by the laws of the land, but when you have a company that has 40 to 50 service contracts it's impossible to do them all in two days and, at the same time, we account for a considerable part of the local economy.

"There has been no known cases of the virus affecting our industry. We work outdoors so we are not in any proximity to each other or any other persons, but yet at the same time you have allowed work to continue under construction, and landscape development is a part of construction.

"So, as with carpentry and masonry and underground utilities, that's what we do. We have a few construction projects we have ongoing right now, and forget the deadline part of it; we are a part of construction."

Talking to the wider COVID-19 exemptions, Mr Rolle added: "Then you have wording saying that you are allowing concessions to people who run nurseries and plants, but that's what maintenance does: We are for plants. It's a bit conflicting with the information, so we're just making adjustments as we go on.

"Yesterday morning we had a situation where it is public knowledge that the emergency orders said landscaping is allowed on Tuesday's and Thursday's, and one of my vehicles got stopped and they were asked to produce a letter. They are in my company vehicle in uniform with company identification, and the officer is asking for a letter from the company allowing them to work. How asinine is that?"

Mr Rolle said the fate of landscape-support businesses, such as hardware stores, is "another issue". He added: "I can't go to the hardware store on the days that I need my supplies because they are scheduled to be closed, so I just think there should have been more private sector/public collaboration as to what are some of the hot points needed to be considered during the restrictions."

"We support the whole national effort in trying to control what we are dealing with, but at the same time it's like taking a sledgehammer to kill a mosquito. You will break up the table. That makes no sense. Everyone is thinking along the same lines, but I think more and more people need to speak up, and they need to engage more and more from a commerce perspective and say what ideas can we put forward to help create the balance and still achieve what we are trying to achieve, but still yet allowing the economy to roll.

"Even if it is rolling slowly we can still have some movement in our economy and allow people to feed their family and make some things happen. I don't think there has been enough of that going on."

Another landscaping company, speaking under condition of anonymity, said: "It's not been good. Two days really doesn't give us any time to do much, and we find that we are having other challenges where we are open on Tuesday and Thursday but the banks are open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so it is like we need to go to the bank but the banks are closed.

"So it is posing some challenges here and there, and trying to get our schedules accomplished. Then we do a lot of hurricane preparedness and things like tree trimming, and stuff like that, and technically it is putting a lull in our operations to get the work completed."

The landscaper also said "all of the support businesses" that they depend on being closed is posing a challenge as well, especially hardware stores that are only open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They added: "Our days are completely different from their days, so we are not open on those days to do what we are able to do and what is needed to be done."