By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Chamber of Commerce presidents yesterday said the post-Dorian Special Economic Recovery Zone (SERZ) initiative is going smoothly in both Abaco and Grand Bahama.

Ken Hutton, head of the Abaco Chamber of Commerce, told Tribune Business: “Things are definitely moving a lot faster than they were previously. I think there are still a lot of kinks to work out, but overall I am not unhappy with the progress that is being made.”

Gregory LaRoda, his counterpart at the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce, added: “With that everything is going smooth. People are taking advantage of it and doing a lot of local shopping, especially on the building materials side of things, where they are building back their businesses and their homes.

“Everything with that is going pretty smooth from what I can tell. No hiccups. Now that you really don’t have to fill in the form any more, you just go in and you can purchase this stuff duty-free and VAT (value-added tax) free.”

Mr Laroda said there were “no concerns from the Grand Bahama Port Authority” that he was aware of, and that “no one complained”.