Expenditure for Semi-Permanent Housing Bases in Support of Country’s Resilience Building- PM

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the concrete bases being built to support the semi-permanent housing units are designed as highly resilient platforms that can support transition to permanent structures.

The Government is spending $1.2 billion to construct the bases for approximately 2,500 modular and container houses that are being deployed for families displaced by Hurricane Melissa.

Addressing the recent signing ceremony for the Jamaica Hurricane Melissa Reconstruction Implementation Support Project at the AC Marriot Hotel in St. Andrew, Dr. Holness said the expenditure is in keeping with long-term resilience-building.

He said the national mission is to build stronger, more sustainably, create a culture of preparation and to support productivity.

“There is a criticism that the cost of building the bases is extremely high… . Now, if we’re going to build bases for temporary houses should we just go and put some stumps in the ground and put the temporary houses on it and leave the people in the temporary houses,” he asked rhetorically.

“We could probably do that for about J$500,000… but would that have built resilience for the next hurricane? Would it have given an opportunity for the persons to upgrade from semi-permanent container homes to build stronger structures if we had just taken the containers and put them on four stumps? No,” he said.

Dr. Holness noted that other facilities are included to support the units.

“What we have done is to build septic tanks for sewage disposal, water tanks to give people access to potable water to improve their resilience, steps and other structures to support the containers. This is on the basis that since these are temporary, that in the future, when these semi-permanent containers have reached their useful life, you can build on the foundation that you have given all you would need to do is come up with either your wood structure or walls.

“You can look at what the Government is doing to build resilience and place you on a path to permanent improvement or the alternative is to go with patchwork where you are no better off or probably worse off when the next storm comes. This is what my Government is doing. It takes time, it will cost more but it is stronger. It gives you dignity and it is in your interest,” he stated.