The exigency order, which allows for the duty-free importation of building and home supplies, vehicles, clothing and footwear expires today and, according to an official of the National Emergency Management Agency, many Grand Bahamians have not completed the process for the replacement of their items.
Carnard Bethell, local NEMA representative, said there would be no general extension of the January 31 deadline.
He said that the Ministry of Finance has indicated that his office had submitted to the Ministry of Finance numerous requests for an extension.
“We have submitted 50 and I’m being told by the supplies officer we have about 30 more we’ll submit along with others we may get at the end of [Monday],” he said.
Mr. Bethell said many people from the low-income class were greatly affected by Hurricane Wilma and faced delays in getting funds to rebuild because they had no insurance.
He indicated that delays in getting funds worsened given that the Christmas holiday period came soon after the storm.
Mr. Bethell also indicated that because Florida was also impacted by Hurricane Wilma and other hurricanes during the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season, there were delays in getting building supplies and furnishings.
Many Grand Bahamians had been pushing for the exigency order to be extended.
Kimberley Musgrove, a resident of Eight Mile Rock who lost her house near the coastline, told The Bahama Journal she had difficulty acquiring the funds needed to rebuild so she said the exigency order was “useless” to her.
She said she had to use her salary to replace the necessities, which made it difficult for her to save.
“It definitely is not working out in my favour because I don’t have the money to get the stuff,” Ms. Musgrove said. “They give it to us until the end of January, come on. Some of us don’t have the money, plain and simple.
“Some clothes you need to buy right now, but if you buy it here it’s expensive, so you use up the little money you have, and some people don’t even have jobs to buy things-and save to get these things back in the space of three months, so government is not understanding.”
While the Ministry of Finance is not keen on extending the deadline, Mr. Bethell said the financial secretary would consider individual requests for extensions.
“Where the ministry may not want to give blanket extensions, they may give individual extensions based on the reason you give for being delayed, perhaps 30 days or more,” he said.
Mr. Bethell added that hurricane victims need to now concentrate their efforts on getting extensions for approvals and not on applying for duty free exemptions.
“At this time, those persons who have done nothing, they were taking the wrong course of action. Right now persons ought to be concerned with getting their approvals and that’s the kind of person that I’m trying to help,” he said.
Mr. Bethell said residents have until 5pm Tuesday to get requests for approvals in to his office.
“Once the approval is obtained-if you cannot get your importation in by the end of the day you need to ask for an extension,” he said.
But Mr. Bethell said, “That written request [is only a request]. I cannot guarantee that it will happen. That decision rests with the financial secretary.”
For persons who made purchases, which may arrive a day or two beyond the exigency deadline, he said the Department of Customs would probably be lenient.
“If the [items] get to Customs within a reasonable time after the deadline and the person can produce every document that he purchased well ahead of the deadline, [Customs] may be compassionate and let the items through,” he said.
To date, 484 applications have been processed, according to Mr. Bethell. Among them are applicants for replacement of cars and furniture, and applications for building materials.
By: Daphne McIntosh, The Bahama Journal
