Robust Systems in Place for Procurement of Government Housing Contracts

“None of these contracts are just handed over to anyone to build the house. There is a sense among many persons in Jamaica that Government can take up a works contract and say, ‘My friend here you go’. That may have been the case years 20-30 years ago, but that is certainly not the case today.
– Prime Minister Holness
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Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the Government has a very robust system to ensure transparency and accountability in the award of infrastructure contracts particularly, housing contracts.
Speaking today (July 12) at the handover of a social housing unit in Hanover, Prime Minister Holness made it clear that all government contracts and services must be subject to a rules-based process and systems of laws that are independent of political interference.
“None of these contracts are just handed over to anyone to build the house. There is a sense among many persons in Jamaica that Government can take up a works contract and say, ‘My friend here you go’. That may have been the case years 20-30 years ago, but that is certainly not the case today. Everything goes through a competitive process, a rules-based process,” said Prime Minister Holness.
Prime Minister Holness declared that political interference should not take place in the process.
“There are persons who keep making demands on Member of Parliament, on Government officials [saying], ‘I want a contract, I should get a contract’. And it is not so. It cannot be so. It is illegal. And if any Member of Parliament, or any public official gets involved with the giving out of a contract that is the basis for criminal prosecution. I want to make that absolutely clear. There are a lot of people who are upset with public officials because somehow they were deprived of this notion of a contract. Public officials, particularly elected representatives, have absolutely no involvement in the letting or procurement process for contracts. That is absolutely off limits,” declared Prime Minister Holness.
More than 286 units under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) have been built, with approximately 230 handed over to beneficiaries who go through a rigorous process to verify the need.
Prime Minister Holness says having established the standards of housing units to be built, the Government will now seek to partner with other organizations such as Food for the Poor to speed up delivery to expand and speed up delivery of units. An estimated six thousand housing units are needed to address chronic housing issues for those in greatest need.
Prime Minister Holness officially handed over three more units under the NSHP in the parish of Hanover today.