BVI grants Bahamas’ request for BVIEC workers to extend time and continue assistance

The four-member team from the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) that is in The Bahamas to assist with power restoration on Abaco has been granted an extension to continue works on the hurricane-ravaged island.

“Bahamas Power & Light has requested a two-week extension for the team,” said the General Manager of BVIEC Leroy Abraham during at update to BVI News recently.

“I would say the longest overall period of time that the guys would be there is two months. They won’t be there any longer than that because two months would put them at the beginning of December, so we will be demobilising them the latest that time,” he further told our news centre.

Abraham said his quartet of BVIEC workers has helped to restore power to residents living in the northern side of Abaco. And for the first time since Hurricane Dorian, electricity has been restored to residents in an area of the island known as Coopers Town.

“They have started to reinstate power supply to the northern area of Abaco. So, that will be their focus for the next few days. They were actually waiting for the temporary generator to be installed earlier up in the week,” the BVIEC boss said.

“They had already started doing some preliminary grid restoration in Marsh Harbour which is the centre of the island so once they get through with restoring electricity to those residents in the north, they would progress back down to continue with the grid restoration in the Marsh Harbour area,” he added.

Despite the progress made so far, fully restoring electricity to the island will not be a quick fix considering the extent of the damage on the island, Abraham explained.

“I am most certain that long after when the team or the various teams return to their respective homes, there will still be a lot of work to be done in The Bahamas, in Abaco, from an electricity standpoint.”

The four-member team comprises of team leader Trevor ‘West’ Stevens, Jason Clyne, Damien Richardson and Shaquil ‘Shack’ Samuel.