$300-m Black River Hospital reopened

BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — Against the backdrop of recent criticism of the Government’s pace of recovery a year after Hurricane Melissa battered here, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Wednesday doubled down on his intention to make changes to the contracting and procurement phase now causing setbacks in rebuilding.

He said Cabinet ministers have had to push hard on technocrats to fast-track projects like the rebuilding Black River Hospital, which was decimated during the passage of Hurricane Melissa a year ago.

“We are faced with technocrats telling us, you can’t do this, you can’t do that… the answer is always no, while the people suffer. We are not saying we must not follow the rules. We are saying that we must follow them quickly, don’t delay,” he said on Wednesday at the reopening of the 181-bed facility in St Elizabeth.