From left, Yuri Chakalall, senior sector specialist of natural disaster and risk management, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); Pedro Martel, IDB division chief, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Division; Florencia Attademo-Hirt, IDB country representative for The Bahamas; Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis; Therese Turner-Jones, IDB country representative for Jamaica and general manager, Caribbean Division; Annette Kilmer, senior operations advisor, IDB Climate Change and Sustainable Development Division and Michele Lemay, senior specialist, IDB Climate Change and Sustainability Division.
By KHRISNA RUSSELL
Deputy Chief Reporter
krussell@tribunemedia.net
FOLLOWING the devastation left behind by three major hurricanes in three years, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said the government will need to strengthen town-planning regulations and this may include enforcing “no-build” zones.
While the country has learned “the hard way” that communities and infrastructure cannot be built in the same manner as years ago, Dr Minnis said the Bahamas is committed to fully implementing technologies to improve the quality of planning for coastal zones.
He was speaking during the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Caribbean Coastal Resilience forum at The Island House.
“The impact of the latest three hurricanes on our islands demonstrates this need for coastal planning,” Dr Minnis said while addressing a small group gathered at the forum and referring to Hurricanes Joaquin, Matthew and Irma. “We will need to strengthen our regulations around town planning and zoning. This may include identifying and enforcing no-build zones within the islands in the Bahamas.
“We are going to have to deal with the issues around land tenure and land administration as we think about better zoning and the provision of new housing projects built for disaster resilience.
“We know that significant work has already been completed on this issue through the IDB’s Land Use Planning and Administration Project (LUPAP). We must now revive that work for implementation.
“Further, we must encourage and foster innovation in our architecture and engineering so that we can design and build infrastructure that is more resilient and sustainable.”
Last week CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque said events like Irma prove humans are living through a period of climate change. He was a part of a contingent which visited Ragged Island to observe the damage left behind by the monster storm.
Earlier in his address the prime minister said: “Already, our Ministry of Works has started to consider the potential benefits of green infrastructure solutions, such as mangrove restoration efforts, to enhance the level of protection compared to that provided by traditional seawalls or revetments alone.
“Similarly, here on the island of New Providence, we are planning for a more sustainable future through Nassau’s participation in the IDB’s Emerging and Sustainable Cities Programme.
“An early deliverable of this project was a study on natural hazards and risks to the island, specifically inland flooding, coastal flooding, and salt water intrusion into the freshwater lens.
“Hurricane Matthew unfortunately confirmed the accuracy of the coastal flooding models, as those communities along our southern shore found themselves inundated by storm surge.
“We have learned the hard way that we cannot continue to build our communities and infrastructure in the same manner. These are the first of many such island master plans within the Bahamas.,” Dr Minnis said.
Comments
Porcupine 7 years, 1 month ago
Perhaps The Bahamas could take the lead in developing a universal alternative to shingled roofs. I think using shingles on roofs should be a thing of the past. Roofs, for the most part, need to be seamless, with minimal overhang, and be well secured to prevent uplift. Most of the catastrophic damage done to dwellings begins with a failure of the roof system. Concrete Bermuda roofs do very well. I also know they are using alternatives to shingles in Eleuthera, as well. The Miami Dade building code, implemented after Hurricane Andrew needs to be updated. We can take the lead in protecting our people and property, or we can wait for others to tell us what to do, as in the picture captioned above. We can look ahead, taking the lead, or we can stay at the back of the pack always looking over our shoulder.......................
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 1 month ago
Repost: Mrs Turner-Jones said the IDB was working with the Government to develop a ‘roadmap’ on how to deal with coastal management issues.
“We already have a programme with the Bahamas. We are just waiting to negotiate the details of that loan to help the Bahamas do a better job maintaining its coastal environment,” she added.
Here we once again see the IDB encouraging our government to once again obtain another loan even though this very same organization and others like it (e.g. IMF, Moody's, S&P, etc.etc.) have been relentlessly bashing us for having allowed our national debt to approach an unsustainable level. The surreptitious and hideous agenda of these international agencies is to destabilize our country by cajoling our government into taking on even more debt at every opportunity. All of this should now be plain as day to most thinking Bahamians. It is a fact as true as the sun will rise and set tomorrow. Our government should be telling all IDB personnel to pack their bags and get the hell out of our country! This evil organization has never served our nation's interests and the same goes for the IMF.
TalRussell 7 years, 1 month ago
Comrades! It's unwise for the chief focus to be hurricane related by PM and his cabinet colleagues - brushing aside all else important. But isn't it the expected cop out when you have no plans on how to move the country's economy forward?
Islandboy242242 7 years, 1 month ago
Instead of looking to rebuild mangroves why doesn't the government take an ACTUAL & CURRENT stance on the mangrove destruction in Bimini. You need to have sense to know where to replant mangroves, they won't grow on love beach with a 6 ft swell battering them. How bout take a study of where important mangrove densities are work to protect them instead of letting developers (Bahamian and Foreign) set a bulldozer on them.
Reality_Check 7 years, 1 month ago
We can only hope and pray that Minnis does not fall victim to listening to the typical nonsense and hogwash espoused by IDB reps as they try to encourage our country to borrow more and more so that they can then turn around and bash us for taking on unsustainable debt.
sealice 7 years, 1 month ago
No build zones??? how many bloody shanty towns and DIY ghetto's we have in this country that were all built without permits? How many docks built without permits in the outislands? Isn't the end of Nygard Cay a No build Zone?
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