The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Rebuild Bahamas hurricane relief fund has received funding applications up to 25 times’ greater than the maximum it can provide per business, Tribune Business has been told.

Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, told Tribune Business that the joint relief effort had received applications for as much as $250,000 to help Joaquin-related recovery efforts.

Rebuild Bahamas, a joint venture between the Chamber and Bahamian Rotary clubs, has capped the amount of funding it can provide at $10,000 per approved business applicant in a bid to conserve limited resources.

“We’ve seen claims coming to us in excess of $250,000 for damages done to property,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business. “Those were way out of our reach to assist.

“For those we’re able to assist, we’ve told them we can’t fulfill every need. Tell us your most pressing need to get you back into business.”

Mr Sumner disclosed that to ensure funds were used properly, Rebuild Bahamas was paying vendors directly for equipment, building materials and the like that were requested by approved applicants.

This is designed to prevent any misuse or fraud relating to relief monies, and the Chamber chief added that there was “a monitoring and evaluation process in place” via the organisation’s Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Help Desk that provides further checks and balances.

Emphasising that Rebuild Bahamas’ relief fund had been structured to meet international best practices, and will be audited to account for every dollar donated, Mr Sumner said the SME Help Desk would monitor aid recipients for 12 months.

Besides ensuring that they were, or became, compliant with Business Licences, Value-Added Tax (VAT) registration and other government regulations, Mr Sumner said the Chamber/Rotary relief effort was “meant to strengthen these businesses going forward”.

“It’s meant to help them, not harm them or diminish the impact of hurricane relief,” the Chamber chief executive explained, adding that Rebuild Bahamas’ goal was to get them away from “writing their financials on the back of an envelope”.

Improving internal processes and systems in Family Island businesses that bore the brunt of Joaquin is thus intended to help them better withstand similar catastrophic events in the future.

Between the $221,220 generated by last October’s Rebuild Bahamas telethon, the $357,268 raised by the Rotary Clubs of the Bahamas via private donations, a total $578,500 has been collected for relief efforts focused on the business community.

Around $357,000, or close to 62 per cent, has been spent to-date from that $578,000 in assisting business recovery and other forms of relief. Mr Sumner estimated that the remaining monies could assist another 10-20 businesses, and expressed hope more could be raised.

The Chamber chief executive also urged the Government to respond “sooner rather than later” to its request for Hurricane Joaquin-related tax breaks to be expanded to businesses, along with Customs duty and VAT ‘refunds’ on local relief purchases.

Mr Sumner said the extra urgency was necessary because the Chamber’s Board wanted “to wrap up” Joaquin relief efforts by end-June 2016, which is now less than three months away.

Although applications outside that deadline would be assessed on “a case-by-case basis”, he added: “We don’t want this to be an open ended process.

“We want to be able to close this up, wrap this up, this season before we enter into another season. We’re quite sure that if the timelines goes to the end of June, most of those funds will be exhausted.”

Mr Sumner said that if the Government gave a positive response to the Chamber’s request, the resulting Customs duty and VAT refunds will provide extra funds to assist storm-ravaged businesses.

He added that the Chamber was “confident” of a good outcome, and expected to hear from the Government shortly, given that the issue was said to be before Prime Minister Perry Christie.

“We’re running out of time and money. Businesses need to get back into business. It’s very important given where we are now. It’s important to get a response to that request sooner rather than later,” Mr Sumner said.

“That was sent in a couple of weeks ago, and we expected there would have been some communication by now. It’s important we get a response as soon as possible to determine how we’re going to assist those businesses we’ve not been able to assist.”