Gov't expected to begin issuing reconstruction grants by January

 

The government says it expects to begin the issuing of reconstruction grants to Jamaicans whose houses were damaged during the passage of Hurricane Melissa, by early January.

 

Information Minister Dr. Dana Morris Dixon says the matter was discussed by Cabinet. 

 

But Dr. Morris Dixon reiterated that the grants will be contingent on the housing assessment being carried out by the Minister of Labour and Social Security.

 

"We are only going to be giving grants to individuals who have been assessed as having been affected. And it's the same thing with the roof repairs. We will only be repairing roofs of individuals who have been assessed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to have been affected, and the assessments are ongoing," she stressed.

 

Labour and Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles Jr. said as of December 9, 40,144 household damage assessments have been completed. 

 

"We have 544 assessors trained and operating on our platform, and we anticipate to double that amount. Cabinet has approved now the scaling up of household damage assessments submission that was made recently, which will see us having the ministry's integrated assessment acceleration strategy supported by ministries, departments and agencies that have field capacity to assist us in completing the remaining household damage assessments," he noted.

 

Both ministers were speaking at Wednesday's post-cabinet media briefing. 

 

Mr. Charles said the aim is to assess 150,000 households by the end of next month. 

 

Meanwhile, the Information Minister said the repairing of roofs in the affected parishes is a priority of the government. This work will be undertaken by the Jamaica Defence Force, HEART/NSTA Trust and delegations from the Caribbean and Africa. 

 

"We're going to be working with HEART/NSTA Trust to be able to provide young people to work with the JDF in repairing those roofs that have been damaged. In addition to that, you'd have heard that there are delegations coming in from various countries that will be helping in that effort. So, we have teams coming from Guyana, from Ghana, from Ethiopia and also from Rwanda. The JDF will only be repairing roofs that are structurally sound, so they need to be structurally sound," she reiterated.

 

"I know Minister Vaz is also looking at house wiring because that's very important because we may need to rewire many of these homes," added Minister Morris Dixon. 

 

Private construction companies will also be approached to assist with the rebuilding efforts.