Gov't says funds identified to help clean up Negril's Seven Mile Beach

By Kimone Witter    

 

The government has identified funds to assist with the cleanup at Negril's Seven Mile Beach in Westmoreland following severe weather.

 

Debris and flood waters also left several businesses shuttered along West End Road.

 

But Prime Minister Andrew Holness says it will take longer to repair the sea wall at West End that collapsed and similar infrastructure that was damaged in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.

 

"I can stand here and say that we have found within the budget, even though we are drawing to the end of the budgeting period, that we have ring-fenced a small amount of funds to assist with the cleanup in Negril of the beaches. We have found funds to reopen roads, and we are now doing preliminary assessments as to what it would cost to repair the damaged overseas walls, the wave breaker and the groyne in Ocho Rios," he announced. 

 

Mr. Holness said adjustments are needed to procurement rules to make it easier to respond to emergencies. 

 

"What we are learning in building resilience is that it is not only fiscal preparedness that is important - meaning putting aside some buffers in the budget, fiscal buffers - but more and more increasingly, we have to wrestle with bureaucratic and administrative hurdles which not limit but lengthens, extends the time within which we can respond. Time is important to resilience. If you take long to recover, you probably will not recover," he reasoned. 

 

The Prime Minister was addressing a parliamentarians luncheon at Jamaica House on Thursday.