The Tribune

PINEWOOD MP Reuben Rahming yesterday championed the Minnis administration for allocating $2m to address the constituency’s long standing flooding woes.

During his contribution to the 2021/2022 budget debate yesterday, Mr Rahming also criticised the former Christie administration for not solving the issue while in office.

He suggested he was not expecting funds to be set aside for the community given the state of the economy.

“Right now in the middle of a crisis where honestly in my heart I would have understood, but I just cannot as a member of Parliament, but I would have understood if the money wasn’t there for Pinewood. . .because right after that first budget we got missed, the second budget there was a million dollars in it to start the pilot programmes to get it up and going, COVID hit. So literally by our second budget money was already being poured in to address the matter,” Mr Rahming said.

“I thank God that soon the people will see not only what the doc (has) been doing but cooking for Pinewood. I invite our deputy prime minister at his earliest opportunity to take the time to come to Pinewood... we can probably do a Zoom meeting with him and his experts so they can understand that this is not a panacea. I invite Doc to come when it’s time to break that ground and I want him to take the kill and show the people his face when they realise that shovels are in the ground for the first time in Pinewood.”

In December 2020, Mr Rahming said he would not support another budget that “neglects” his constituency and did not include financing to address long standing flooding issues in the area.

At the time, he also said that while he believes Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is the best person to lead the country, he does not “blindly support” the Free National Movement. He told Parliament he does not want to be put in a position to choose between his constituents and party loyalty, saying in that case, the government would “lose against my conviction”.

Yesterday, Minister of Works Desmond Bannister said the government is committed to addressing the problems in Pinewood.

“This current budget has some $2m in it to... deal with this drainage challenge that was left to you in Pinewood, that you have been working so assiduously to try to do something about. We are seriously committed to Pinewood and to helping you deal with the challenges that have been there for decades that you are now dealing with,” Mr Bannister said.