Golding Faults Slow Hurricane Melissa Recovery at Black River Town Hall

Opposition Leader and People’s National Party President Mark Golding says large numbers of residents in Western Jamaica remain without the help they were assured after Hurricane Melissa tore through parts of the region.

Addressing a PNP town hall in Black River, Golding charged that the administration’s recovery effort has lagged, leaving householders, micro and small enterprises, and whole neighbourhoods still trying to get back on their feet.

Golding said, “We are now 9 months or thereabouts past the hurricane date and I must say that I am very, very disappointed in the government's response to the plight of the people who are affected by the hurricane. We have the promises for housing support, apart from the ROOF Program which wasn't even half a percent of GDP and which was very inadequate because even those who lost their entire homes were only given 500,000 Jamaican dollars as a contribution. People were expected to travel far to try and collect on this.”

He also contended that thin assistance for businesses has weighed on the wider economy.

“The NaRRA legislation has been passed. We had major problems with it. The lack of a board to ensure that this agency that is going to be responsible for the spending of [snorts] billions of US dollars with one CEO reporting to a minister who happens to be the PM there. That's not an appropriate structure for a statutory body.”

Golding further flagged Black River redevelopment proposals, insisting that any rebuild must be shaped by residents who live and work there.

“We have heard announcements to do with Black River and parity and the building of a new town and so on. You can't be just making decisions in Jamaica House or wherever it is and saying to everybody this is what it's going to be. There needs to be a structured form of consultation with the people to ensure that the people's lives are improved by whatever plan is being executed.”