The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Abaco’s Chamber of Commerce president yesterday reiterated that residents need “action now” over the extension of Hurricane Dorian-related tax breaks and other relief.

Ken Hutton said all the talk and equivocation over how long the extension to Abaco’s Special Economic Recovery Zone (SERZ) should be must end. “We need some action. We need it now. There’s been a lot of talk, and there’s no action and there’s been no results. So, we’re waiting to see what they are going to do as opposed to what they are going to say,” he added.

Mr Hutton was responding to Myles Laroda, minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister, who yesterday said the SERZ will be extended for “as long as those areas remain affected” while offering no specific timelines or schedules.

Mr Laroda said: “Until we are at the point that we could comfortably say that all that could be done from a government perspective has been done or a lot of it, then we have to keep it on the radar. Because even though the cameras have left there’s still a lot of people out there still affected by the damages and ravages of Dorian.”

Asked whether or not this indicates an indefinite roll over of the SERZ orders, Mr Laroda said: “I didn’t say indefinite; I said until we get a grip of it. I don’t know how long that will be, but I don’t want to put a timeline when we don’t need it because that would create another problem.”

Mr Hutton responded: “We’ve heard a lot. I’m encouraged that the minister and the Government is thinking in that way, but again we have been though this dance many times before. We need to see it in writing, we need to see it legislated, we need to see it in place.

“We need to see it now, or as soon as possible, because the current SERZ concessions expire in three weeks and there’s a lot of people that are wondering what’s going on. There’s a lot of people that are trying to make plans. So it’s one thing to say something and it’s another thing to actually do it.”

The SERZ orders have been extended three times since they first were enacted in December 2019. The latest extension lasts until end-December 2021. Mr Hutton has asked for a full three-year extension to the SERZ in the recent past, but the Government has not given a response to the Chamber’s request.