The discord has cast light on how the U.S. and island governments and two multibillion-dollar companies have managed the technical and financial facets of the restoration.
A construction worker repairs a damaged roof March 6 in St. Thomas. Frustration has consumed the U.S. Virgin Islands amid a wave of complaints over management of the recovery efforts following Hurricanes Irma and Maria. By Tim Craig Tim Craig National reporter Email Bio Follow March 27 at 1:47 PM ST. THOMAS, U.S.
Frustration has consumed the Virgin Islands amid a wave of complaints about unpaid bills, broken promises and shoddy work in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. In one case, the tension culminated in an armed standoff over allegations of unpaid contractors. But the territory — which includes three islands and is roughly the size of Philadelphia — remains a long way from its pre-storm footing after 18,500 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed by the hurricanes, resulting in an estimated $11 billion in damage.
On Tuesday, the territorial government’s Senate Finance Committee voted to subpoena AECOM after the firm failed to show up for a hearing on complaints over nonpayment. Daryl Griffith, executive director of the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority, said the territory has paid out nearly all of the $187 million in federal funds received for the STEP program. FEMA has promised another $86 million, he said, for a total of $273 million.
Phillips and his father cobbled together about $15,000 to hand out to the workers, though the subcontractor still had not paid him, he said, and he could not afford to buy a Christmas gift for his 12-year-old daughter. He and the rest of the workers finally walked off the job on Jan. 2, alleging they were owed a combined $150,000.After Phillips and the other workers held a protest on St. Thomas to draw attention to their plight, Allco arranged to pay some of them. Phillips wasn’t one of them.
A veteran of more than a dozen hurricane-recovery projects, Johnson was lured to St. Croix shortly after Christmas by a subcontracting firm under AECOM that promised him he could make more than $1,000 a week. He worked on four houses — all projects that had previously been started by other contractors who either walked off the job due to nonpayment or were yanked from the job because of poor craftsmanship.
Gair said the quality of the work is inspected separately by the general contractor, Witt O’Brien’s, FEMA and the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources, a process that can take months and lead to delayed checks. The territory has accumulated about $1.7 billion in debt and has just seven to 10 days of cash on hand. Moody’s Investors Service, which rates the territory’s credit worthiness, has assigned it the third-lowest of 21 ratings, one above Puerto Rico, which declared a form of bankruptcy in 2017.
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