House Begins Debate on NaRRA Bill

Debate on legislation to establish the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) commenced in the House of Representatives on April 14.

NaRRA will serve as the central, single point of coordination for post-hurricane reconstruction, aiming to eliminate bureaucracy, fragmentation, and project delays.

It will also be a centre of technical excellence for project preparation and delivery, ensuring that the quality of national plans aligns with the scale of the country’s ambitions.

Opening the debate on the NaRRA Act, 2026, Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, said the bill is one of the most consequential pieces of legislation the Parliament has been asked to consider in the modern era of Jamaica’s development.

“The vision of what Jamaica can be has existed in our national consciousness for generations. What has been missing is not the dream. What has been missing is the institutional machinery to turn that dream into delivered reality, to take the plans from the shelves and drive them through to completion at pace,” he stated.

“Hurricane Melissa, as terrible as it has been, has given Jamaica something rare – a moment of national urgency, a critical mass of international financing and a mandate for transformation that transcends the ordinary pace of government. This Bill is how we seize that moment. We are not restoring a pre-Melissa Jamaica. We are building a post-Melissa Jamaica that the generations before us dreamed of and the generations after us will inherit,” he added.

The Prime Minister said that the Bill that is put forward will empower NaRRA to act with expediency while ensuring transparency, efficiency and effectiveness.

He said it is crafted to deliver the institutional architecture through which Jamaica will convert catastrophe into competitive advantage and become a stronger, more productive and prosperous nation.

“The world has already signalled its confidence in Jamaica’s capacity to lead this resurgence. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have jointly committed a coordinated financing package of up to US$6.7 billion, the single largest and most comprehensive development financing package ever assembled for Jamaica,” he pointed out.

These institutions, Dr. Holness said, have commended the Government’s decision to establish NaRRA, noting that only a few countries have acted so quickly to set up a modern, best practice central coordinating body to drive recovery with discipline, transparency and long-term vision.

The Prime Minister noted that the US$6.7-billion financing package, while historic, falls short of the US$12.2-billion assessed damage and loss from Hurricane Melissa.

He said that private capital, both domestic and international, must be mobilised to work alongside public investment to close the gap.

“This is precisely why NaRRA incorporates not just approved reconstruction and resilience projects that are government-led projects but also designated strategic projects under FAST [Facilitated Acceleration of Strategic Transformation], which are private sector-led projects. This is to ensure that both public and private investment are properly coordinated and coordinated with synergy,” Dr. Holness said.

The Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC) will be established to provide independent public oversight of NaRRA’s performance.

Performance evaluation of NaRRA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will be conducted by the Cabinet Office, with structured input from JAMRROC, as well as other stakeholders.

“Performance evaluation will be grounded in the achievement of clearly defined targets and measurable outcomes, not merely process compliance, not activity reports, but delivered results. The people of Jamaica will be able to judge, through JAMRROC public reporting, whether NaRRA is performing, and if it is not, the accountability chain will be clear, direct, and consequential,” the Prime Minister told the House.

He said that JAMRROC will operate similarly to the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), which was established to monitor the implementation of Jamaica’s economic reform programme.

“Similar to the economic reform programme, reconstruction is not a government project. It is a national project. Its oversight must reflect that,” he said.

He further indicated that the Government will make provision for JAMRROC to include a member nominated by the Leader of the Opposition.