$1.2b well spent

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has defended his Administration’s decision to issue contracts in excess of $1.2 billion to build bases for approximately 2,500 semi-permanent houses for people whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Melissa last October.

“There is a criticism that the cost of building the bases [is] extremely high, and I reflected on this. If we are going to build bases for temporary houses should we just go and put the stumps in the ground and leave it? We could probably do that… but would that have built resilience for the next hurricane?” Holness said.

The prime minister was speaking Tuesday morning at a signing ceremony between the Government of Jamaica and the World Bank to formalise a grant for US$5 million (more than $700 million) towards the National Reconstruction Implementation Support Project, part of Jamaica’s national resilient rebuilding efforts.