Over 13,500 ‘Rebuild Jamaica’ Initiative Assessments Conducted

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has, so far, conducted more than 13,500 assessments islandwide under the Government’s ‘Rebuild Jamaica’ initiative.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., made the disclosure during Tuesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

The Government allocated more than $1 billion to the Ministry for the distribution of grant support to beneficiaries whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Beryl.

Through Rebuild Jamaica, grants of $50,000, $150,000 and $400,000 are disbursed to beneficiaries, depending on the level of damage to their homes.

Mr. Charles informed that of the total number of persons assessed, the Ministry has not been able to validate several of them.

“There are a number that we have not been able to validate, and that process includes us going through the contact information [to verify] your name, your number, your address, as well as validating your Tax Registration Number (TRN). What this has exposed is that [for] a little under 5,000 of the 13,500, we have not been able to validate the TRN for one reason or [another],” he stated.

The Minister explained that in certain instances, the name given is incorrectly spelt on the TRN, the TRN is incorrect, or the TRN was destroyed during the passage of the hurricane.

“So we have been going through a process, now, of reverification… reaching out to persons by phone, calling members of the community on their street, talking to the Members of Parliament (MPs), to the Councillors… going back into the community, and so far, we have been able to, at least, validate of the 13,500, a little more than 7,000,” Mr. Charles informed.

“The good news is that, of that amount that we have validated, [for] 100 per cent of the validated beneficiaries, those cheques have been printed… [and] have been distributed, either to the parish offices or to the areas where they’re to be collected. Of that amount, more than 50 per cent have either been delivered or collected by a beneficiary already,” he added.

Mr. Charles further informed that, as of September 10, the Ministry has been able to verify an additional 503 persons.

He said cheques for those individuals were slated to be printed on Tuesday “for immediate distribution and delivery”.

Mr. Charles emphasised that “this process has exposed the need for [the National Identification System] NIDS“.

If the country is going to develop, we have to be able to identify, we have to be able to collate and move swiftly. This is the main reason why we [could not announce on Tuesday] that 100 per cent of all persons [had] received their cheques,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Mr. Charles said more than 1,245 cheques valued $116.4 million have been printed for beneficiaries in St. Elizabeth, the parish with the largest number of assessments.

He said this is followed by Clarendon, with more than 1,055 cheques printed at an estimated value of $98.3 million. Also receiving cheques are beneficiaries in St. Mary, Manchester and Portland.

“We are working towards being able to put in place processes to speed up the reverification. So there are persons who have indicated to us that they do not have a TRN or they cannot find their TRN. One of the things that we have instituted is the use of a proxy, so that you will be able to identify someone responsible who can serve on your behalf with the necessary verification to receive the cheque on your behalf,” Mr. Charles stated.