Nearly a year after Hurricane Melissa, Holness says recovery is moving too slowly

Nearly a year after Hurricane Melissa devastated Jamaica, Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness is again voicing frustration with the pace of reconstruction, acknowledging that families remain without permanent shelter and some schools continue to grapple with inadequate conditions despite billions of dollars being committed to recovery.

Speaking Tuesday at the launch of the Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC) at Jamaica House, Holness said bureaucratic and procurement processes have slowed the delivery of critical assistance, including housing promised to families shortly after the hurricane.

“And maybe, about six weeks after the hurricane, we made some commitments that we would purchase what we call modular, semi-permanent housing solutions. And now we are almost a year past the event, and we are now just being able to sign contracts and starting to deliver the houses,” Holness said.

“The process does not take into consideration the suffering of the families there who are waiting for those houses, who are still, some of them, sleeping outside,” he added. “No matter what I say here today, it is not an excuse for them. It doesn't give them any comfort.”

His comments come as Jamaica continues the reconstruction phase of its response to Melissa, which caused widespread destruction when it struck the island last year. Holness formally announced in March that the country had moved into the reconstruction phase.

The scale of the recovery remains particularly significant in the education sector, where 688 schools were damaged by the hurricane, including 313 that sustained severe damage.

Education Minister Sen. Dr. Dana Morris Dixon said in her Sept. 5 back-to-school address that nearly $26 billion is being spent on school repairs and reconstruction. She acknowledged, however, that work at some institutions has not progressed as quickly as the government had hoped.

“The repairs are not advancing as fast as we would like in some schools but once we have this work completed, our schools will be stronger than ever,” Morris Dixon said.

Despite unfinished repairs at some institutions, the government expected all schools to reopen for the new academic year on Sept. 7, with contingency arrangements in place where necessary.

Reflecting on the education recovery a year after Melissa, Holness said more than 300 schools are on the roster for rehabilitation and that significant progress has been made despite challenges involving procurement, contracting and weather.

He acknowledged that some schools are still dealing with problems, including excessively hot classrooms and other resource needs.

“We cannot explain away these shortcomings. Our responsibility is to fix them, remove the bottlenecks and accelerate delivery,” Holness said. “Our children deserve learning environments where they can feel comfortable, supported and ready to learn.”

The reconstruction effort has also been used to make schools more resilient and upgrade facilities. Morris Dixon said the first phase of a Staffroom Renovation Programme covers 74 institutions, with work concentrated heavily in parishes hardest hit by Melissa.

At Tuesday's JAMRROC launch, Holness argued that Jamaica needs a broader “mindset shift” in how major public projects are executed, saying the bureaucracy has become hesitant to undertake large projects quickly.

“We cannot accept the idea that if something is done quickly, it must have been done improperly. Or that the only evidence of good administration is a long process,” he said.

Holness suggested that public officials can be reluctant to accelerate projects because of concerns about scrutiny from Parliament's Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) or adverse findings from the Auditor General.

“No public servant wants that smear against their name. And so, they're not going to be moving any faster than what the process allows them to,” he said.

“But the people are still there waiting, and that's the reality,” Holness continued. “I am not satisfied. I am, you know, I made it very clear, I am not satisfied with the pace at which we have been able to deliver.”

His remarks come months after his administration faced criticism over the pace at which hurricane relief donations were being spent.

In May, Holness pushed back against criticism after a real-time audit by the Auditor General's Department found that only $26.2 million of $1.44 billion in cash donations received following Melissa had been spent as of April. The audit also found that funds donated following Hurricane Beryl in July 2024 remained unspent.

At the time, Holness cautioned against equating speed with sound decision-making.

“Not everything that appears urgent is wise, and not everything that is wise appears immediately,” he said, adding that “the obvious can mislead, and wisdom requires deeper judgement.”

On Tuesday, however, the prime minister emphasized that the government must find a way to accelerate reconstruction without sacrificing oversight.

“So, we want to be clear, however, that speed without accountability is equally unacceptable,” Holness said. “A national undertaking of this size, financed by substantial public resources, and required to move with urgency, demands corresponding weight of scrutiny.”

JAMRROC is expected to provide independent oversight of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), which is responsible for coordinating post-disaster reconstruction and advancing Jamaica's longer-term resilience efforts.

Holness stressed that NaRRA remains subject to the country's existing accountability mechanisms despite what he described as narratives suggesting otherwise.

“NaRRA does not sit outside Jamaica's accountability framework,” he said. “There have been a lot of narratives which would suggest that NaRRA is outside the public accountability framework; that is not the case.”