Dominica’s private sector is attempting to provide what the business community is describing as “practical and sustainable solutions to the challenges of Hurricane Maria”.
The sector is banking on providing these solutions through a National Housing and Construction Symposium organized by the Dominica Business Forum (DBF).
The sessions this Wednesday and Thursday will be conducted by a “High Level Delegation” of Guadeloupean professionals that include engineers, architects and building contractors.
According to DBF, the professionals from the neighboring French island will share their experience with Dominicans “by demonstrating safe construction techniques practiced in Guadeloupe to mitigate against hurricane-strength winds”.
The delegation is said to include Dominican nationals who are involved in the construction industry in Guadeloupe.
Cuban expertise will also be available at the symposium, with the Cuban Embassy here scheduled to make a presentation to share the Cuban experience in dealing with natural disasters “and the ability of Cuba to assist Dominica in its recovery process”.
The wide range of topics, says the DBF, will include: Dominica the First Climate Resilient Country in the World, Vulnerable Communities, the Building Code, recommendations for improvements to the housing stock, and international panel of agencies on island, mortgage financing and insurance coverage in the post-Hurricane Maria era.
Homeowners who have suffered various levels of loss from the devastation imposed by Maria are being urged to attend the symposium which the organizers say is intended to serve as a clinic to give guidance to the homeowners on how to best proceed with the rehabilitation of their homes.
Many who have been alleging that they are not being adequately compensated for their losses by insurance companies are likely to turn up to the symposium in a bid to find out how they can rebuild properly with inadequate funding despite having been “properly insured”.
Some house owners have been heard quoting insurance companies which reportedly told them that their houses were “under-insured” and cannot expect the claims submitted by their assessors cannot be honoured fully.
Others argue that the under-insured reason advanced is merely a ploy adopted by some insurance companies to underpay their clients.
One observer told DNO that whatever the real reason, many hurt by Maria will have a hard time bouncing back, much less being able to rebuild houses to a higher level of hurricane preparedness.
The PM announced last year a period of 6 months on duty free concessions on building materials. The DBF SHOULD ADDRESS that this 6 months will soon be coming to an end and should be extended for the following reasons (at least until June, 2018):
The inability of the hardware companies to supply adequate building materials, the HIGH cost of those materials when available, the late/short payments of insurance claims, and the shortage of skilled craftsmen/women. All those mentioned are delaying the process of building-back-better.
(PM if you’re reading this…..give it a second thought/extension)
Hello and good afternoon my people. Well DNO staff can you tell us where in Dominica the photograph depict. We can clearly see that the homes with the concrete roof wasn’t damage but those with wood sustained major damage.
We need tougher building codes and our Government must go after the insurance companies that collected money from people but now they are under estimating the damage to people home. My parents have a full six hundred thousand dollars replacement policy and their roof sustained some damage because two trees fell on their home. The insurance company they have been paying for years estimated the damage as valued at eight thousand dollars but three contractors estimated it from thirty five to forty thousand dollars.
a Griping session full of complaints. At the end of the day, people will say give me money to put all all you fancy standards, then continue to build just like before.
That goes for both business and residential.