Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has declared that Jamaica can no longer afford a public bureaucracy that delays critical infrastructure projects for years, arguing that excessive procedures are driving up costs and placing unnecessary burdens on citizens.

Holness, who was speaking at Friday’s opening of the new Troy Bridge in Trelawny, which was built to replace an older structure that collapsed in August 2021, is pushing for major reforms to the Government's approval and investment systems.

“The system we have is quite effective at measuring the cost of building, but it is not effective at measuring the cost of not building quickly enough,” said Holness. “It would have cost us at least 30 per cent less if we had built this bridge four years ago.”