NARA opens Melissa rebuild talks as farm aid, roads and school buses advance

The National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NARA) has started early community engagement ahead of islandwide post-Hurricane Melissa reconstruction and resilience programmes.

Last week, NARA Chief Executive Officer retired Major General Anthony Anderson, joined by Agriculture Minister and St. Elizabeth Southwestern MP Floyd Green, visited hard-hit Black River and the fishing community of Parottee in St. Elizabeth.

Anderson said he needed to hear residents’ views on what happened and on reconstruction and resilience. In Parottee, some residents said they were open to relocating after homes were destroyed or badly damaged, while others insisted on staying, citing strong ties to the area and fishing as their main livelihood. Anderson praised their resilience and said the agency’s task was to rebuild better, stronger and more resilient, guided by climate science, engineering and designs adapted to weather and seismic risk.

Green said the visit was a key step toward a recovery approach that keeps residents at the centre of decisions, with plans that are data-driven but people-first.

Separately, Green announced the second phase of the hurricane recovery programme for farmers at a farmer field school graduation and handover in St. Andrew. Targeted help will go to yam growers, beekeepers, and livestock and cattle farmers, including equipment, fencing, hay restoration and infrastructure support. He said the effort also responds to extreme heat and drought, noting $149 million already spent on drought mitigation, with trucking support, grass mulch and free pond liners for catchment ponds available through the ministry, alongside private-sector work on heat stress in animals.

Under the Jamaica Dairy Development Board’s Heifer Redistribution Programme, 400 pregnant heifers are being issued to dairy farmers islandwide in a partnership of the JDDB, the ministry and Seprod Group, as part of Melissa recovery. The launch was held at Serge Island Dairies in Danvers Pen, St. Thomas, with animals channelled through established dairy groups, including Northern Caribbean University and Sydney Pagon STEM Academy. Green said the drive should strengthen the national herd, genetics, milk output and farm incomes. Seprod Group CEO and Managing Director Richard Pandohi said the handover was about transferring productive capacity and positioning farming as a base for economic growth.

SPARK paving is under way on Seacrest Drive in Discovery Bay, St. Ann, with temporary delays expected. Works Minister Robert Morgan said the programme is delivering modern road standards through the National Works Agency and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).

The Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities received 12 tablets and six laptops from the Universal Service Fund to strengthen the I Am Able, My JCPD platform for registration, case management and frontline service. The Labour and Social Security Minister urged deeper USF-JCPD tech cooperation and said JCPD representatives would sit on committees and boards linked to early stimulation for children under six with disabilities, the National Council for Senior Citizens, and overseas employment management.

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz told last week’s post-Cabinet briefing that parent and student satisfaction with the National Rural School Bus Programme is at 100%, above an 85% target, with more than 228,000 km travelled monthly, about 77,700 litres of fuel used, full GPS and driver-training compliance, roughly 90 trained drivers daily, and no serious student injury or fatality since launch. Phase two talks with the Ministry of Finance continue, including plans for another 100 buses this financial year amid budget pressures after Melissa.