JIS News-04.06.2026

Good day. I'm Twilight Wheel and this is your JS news for Thursday, June 4, 2026. A revised building code designed to strengthen Jamaica's resilience against natural disasters will be rolled out during this financial year. The updated code forms part of the government's national reconstruction efforts following the passage of Hurricane Melissa, which dealt a devastating blow to the built environment in Western parishes. Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie gave the update while making his contribution to the 2026 27 sectoral debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. He says the updated code will require structures being built to withstand category 5 hurricanes and will introduce stricter enforcement measures. A critical feature of the new building code is that buildings are to be constructed to withstand category 5 hurricanes. There will be stronger enforcement powers for municipal corporations, mandatory compliance checks and stricter penalties for illegal construction, especially in high-risk zones. More building officers are to be employed as the Ministry of Finance has approved the revised establishment for these positions. The local government minister further reveals that between January and March this year, close to 1,400 building applications were submitted with a combined value of 68.8 billion. More people are applying for building permits to ensure that structural integrity of their projects. The most significant increase of 11% was in building applications for small residential development under 300 square meters in size. Minister McKenzie says the government's focus is not simply to restore what was lost during Hurricane Melissa, but to build modern, climate smart, and resilient infrastructure. Also coming out of parliament, the local government minister has announced that the National Solid Waste Management Authority, NSWMA, will be embarking on a special public education campaign to encourage greater civic responsibility for waste management. $200 million is budgeted to implement the public education campaign this financial year, which also seeks to reduce illegal dumping and littering. Minister McKenzie says the NSWMA is also intensifying enforcement activities across the island. Last year alone, the agency served over 2,000 antila tickets. Over 9,000 uh removers were issued, is a problem that we have, and is a problem that we must deal with. Minister McKenzie also highlighted ongoing works by the NSWMA to improve garbage collection schedules across Jamaica. He says the authority is working towards regular waste collection every 7 to 10 days across the island in addition to a special project to collect 8,000 tons of bulky waste. The minister is appealing to Jamaicans to support the AY's efforts. The agency is targeting to collect 1.2 2 million tons of waste this year. It will be far easier to achieve this goal if illegal dumping and the throwing of garbage into our streets and our gullies are significant significant reduced. Jamaica has strengthened its disaster response and recovery capacity for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season through the establishment of a multi- agency data governance framework. On Tuesday, the director general of OPEM, Commander Alvin Gail, and five permanent secretaries signed a memorandum of understanding and data sharing agreements to support the use of the geoconnect platform. Geocconnect provides a single secure platform that enables ministries and agencies to share, cross reference, and verify damage assessment data in real time. It was developed by the National Spatial Data Management Branch in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development. Permanent Secretary Arlene Williams says the initiative emerged from lessons learned as the country responded to the devastating impact of category 5 hurricane Melissa. She explains that geoconnect will strengthen transparency and support more effective decision making by enabling participating entities to verify beneficiary information across multiple systems. The National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority, NAR, will model international best practices as it moves forward in the post hurricane military rebuilding exercise. That's the word from NAR's chief executive officer, Ambassador, retired Major General Anthony Anderson as he addresses concerns of accountability and transparency of the agency. There are a few models um that are out there that we've been looking at uh what we how we do that. Um there are trusted um softwares uh processes plan programs and so on. These things are known already and are acceptable to donors uh inter funding institutions financing institutions and so on. So um we won't I don't see us going far from that. Obviously we have to have credibility with what we're doing. So the key is to set up credible systems upfront. Ambassador Anderson was speaking during an exclusive interview with CEO of the GIS, Giovani Dennis. He also dispels the notion that NAR will be duplicating the work of other ministries, departments, and agencies. No, because there's lots of work to go around, especially if we're going to try and do things in a short uh period of time. Hopefully um by collaboration we'll probably get allow them to to um unstick some blocks they may have or whatever or have the discussion. In the end we want a better system not just for NAR because NAR is time bound um but for the government. NARO will serve as the central coordinating body for post hurricane reconstruction aimed at eliminating bureaucracy, reducing fragmentation and preventing project delays. It will also function as a center of technical excellence for project preparation and delivery, ensuring that the quality of national plans align with the scale of the country's ambitions. Jamaica is calling for increased support to assist small island developing states, SIDs, in promoting sustainable development of the blue economy. The call comes from the Minister of Water, Environment, and Climate Change, Matthew Samura, who is currently at the island state's ocean summit in Japan. In his address to the summit, Mr. Samura noted that Jamaica viewed sustainable ocean planning and management as an essential tool for economic growth and social development, but he highlighted that there were challenges to confront. For Jama Jamaica, where more than 80% of the population reside along the coastline or within 5 km of the coast, the impacts of climate change and sea level rise pose significant risks to communities, infrastructure, livelihoods, and ecosystems. These vulnerabilities underscore the urgent need for enhanced support to SIDS. These vulnerabilities were brought into sharp focus in 2025 with the impact of Hurricane Melissa, a category 5 storm. The minister stresses that as a small island developing state, Jamaica's future is intrinsically linked to the health, resilience, and sustainable management of our marine and coastal ecosystems. While calling for increased international support, he points out that locally steps have been made to strengthen and promote sustainable ocean management in Jamaica. Since the start of 2026, the government of Jamaica has finalized the overarching policy for Jamaica's protected area system and advanced work on our keys management policy to support among other initiatives the implementation of the Kuning Montreal global biodiversity framework and Jamaica's national biodiversity targets. In recent years, Jamaica has also expanded marine conservation efforts through the legal declaration of additional fish sanctuaries and protected areas aimed at strengthening biodiversity conservation, supporting sustainable fisheries, promoting ecosystem restoration, and enhancing climate resilience. And finally, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Camina Johnson Smith says the visit of the USS Nimmits reflects the long-standing partnership between Jamaica and the United States. The aircraft carrier docked at the port of Kingston on Monday and is making its final stop under the Southern Seas 2026 Goodwill Tour. The vessel is scheduled to remain on the island until June 5. Speaking at Tuesday's postc cabinet press briefing, Minister Johnson Smith highlighted the range of community activities planned during the visit. The crew is going to participate in community activities including school refurbishments, sports engagements, and STEM focused educational exchanges alongside engagements with the Jamaica Defense Force and universities. In terms of school refurbishments, uh, Reno Lodge Primary, Grove Primary, Gainstead High, and Clan Carti High are among the schools that will get a paint refresh. In response to public concerns surrounding the presence of the vessel in Jamaican waters, Minister Johnson Smith reveals that the visit was arranged months in advance and says it should be viewed as part of a long-standing program of engagement between the two countries. This event is not a sudden or a standalone event. It is a scheduled engagement with a long within a longstanding program. Uh we were advised of the plan visit earlier in the year and we are very proud to be able to accommodate them in Kingston Harbor. They have been at sea for about 2 and 1/2 months since they left port in the US and I ask our publics to think logically. The US has not been shy about demonstrating power and the po and the possibility of force where they have wished to do. And that's it for GIS news today. I'm Twilight Whe. Thanks for watching.