Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has dismissed public angst over the unspent $1.4-billion hurricane relief donation, asserting that the funds will be better spent on long-term aid.

Holness, who was in Malvern, St Elizabeth, at a handing over ceremony for NHT service lots on Thursday, declared that “funds are fungible” as he trumpeted a relocation and housing plan for storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica.

He said the donated funds have been earmarked for a tangible, multi-agency housing rollout, including the relocation of the badly damaged coastal community of Parottee in the parish.