NaRRA to Begin Review of Cabinet-referred Projects

The National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) will be examining projects referred to it by Cabinet over the next few months, including their sequencing, as it undertakes planning to begin reconstruction.

Chief Executive Officer of NaRRA, Major General (Ret’d) Antony Anderson, made the disclosure while addressing a community engagement hosted by the Authority, the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), and the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) in Parottee, St. Elizabeth, on Thursday (Sept. 3).

“Over the next few months, we move to the next stages where we start to look at the projects …to see …the sequencing of them and all of that, and to get some of the planning done so that we can move quickly into the actual reconstruction part, and reconstruction with resilience,” he said.

NaRRA, which became legally operational following its enactment in May 2026 and the June 1 appointment of its CEO, is charged with leading, coordinating, and fast-tracking national reconstruction and long-term resilience projects in Jamaica.

It serves as a specialised, time-bound implementation machine established specifically to spearhead rebuilding efforts following the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.

Major General Anderson noted that Cabinet determines the priority projects, with the Government and NaRRA responsible for driving delivery.

He said  that reconstruction must result in tangible improvements for communities and their residents and reduce the impact of future disasters.

“Part of resilience is how do you mitigate things in such a way that if the same event occurred, you’d have less damage from it, less concerns from it, less risk to life and limb from it,” he pointed out.

Major General Anderson said further that “a desirable outcome of anything we do is that we enhance livelihoods, but that enhancement of livelihood does not have to be done at the expense of life.”

“Both things are possible and as things unfold, we will show how both things can happen and be possible,” he said.

Turning specifically to Parottee, which was impacted by Hurricanes Beryl and Melissa in successive years, Major General Anderson noted that NaRRA has a coordinating role, and is collaborating with various agencies in the rebuilding of the area.

He said the approach will require consideration of the views of residents, alongside scientific and technical information, as decisions are made about the future of the community.