The Government has allocated funds for repairs and rehabilitation projects in response to the heavy rains that have caused damage to some infrastructure in the island.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, October 27, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that $1 billion will be allocated for repairs by the National Works Agency (NWA), and each constituency will be allocated a total of $3M to respond to areas adversely affected by the heavy rainfall.

The Prime Minister indicated that the $3M for each constituency will be broken down as follows:

• $1.5M will come from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for rehabilitation grants for the neediest cases.
• $1.5M will come from the housing fund to assist with repairs to housing infrastructure that has been brought to the attention of the Member of Parliament.

“We will budget to expend 1 billion dollars for damage due to rains, and this is to be used by the NWA in areas of greatest national need and strategic importance to the productivity of the economy. We will be looking at clearing blocked roads, desilting, and clearing drains and patching roads, but the overall focus will be on the areas of greatest need,” said Prime Minister Holness.

In that regard, Prime Minister Holness said the Government may have to make additional allocations to support the response.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Holness said the NWA’s preliminary assessment indicates that over 80 roads islandwide were severely affected by various rain-related events.

“The preliminary assessment indicates that the southern parishes were more affected than the northern parishes. I have been informed by the National Works Agency that based on inspection, and field reports that they have conducted, none of the recently completed roads, Constant Spring Road, Hagley Park Road, Barbican Road, and Camp Road, have been adversely affected; this is contrary to some of the statements that are being made publicly,” said Prime Minister Holness.