Jamaica lands 924 modular container homes as Melissa shelter push advances

Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, Senator the Hon. Abka Fitz-Henley, says Jamaica has now taken delivery of more than nine hundred Government-purchased modular residences built from shipping-container shells, bought to help close the housing gap left after Hurricane Melissa.

He outlined the position on Friday, 8 May, as senators discussed the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Act. Under the planned agency, reconstruction after the storm would be steered from one place so that overlapping paperwork, scattered responsibilities and slow-moving schemes give way to faster, better-coordinated delivery. The body would also deepen in-house expertise for scoping and carrying out works so that blueprint quality rises to the level of the nation’s stated goals.

The State Minister noted that on Thursday, 7 May, Prime Minister Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness sat down with the National Housing Trust (NHT), the New Social Housing Programme and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), and was updated that the administration has already bought thousands of dwellings.

“924 modular houses are in fact in Jamaica, an additional 700 are on the way and 700 additional will follow,” Senator Fitz-Henley said.

He stressed again that the Government intends to honour its pledge to put back on solid footing Jamaicans uprooted by Hurricane Melissa’s destruction.

“This modular houses programme will not be plagued by…corruption…The administration of Prime Minister, Dr. Holness, we take matters of accountability and probity seriously, the modular houses programme is subject to rigorous oversight,” he added.

Last year, Prime Minister Holness said the NHT would source five thousand prefabricated container homes for use islandwide to meet shelter demand tied to the hurricane. The two-bedroom layouts run to about four hundred square feet and include a bathroom, kitchen and living quarters.

Putting those modules in place sits within the wider Shelter Recovery Programme (SRP). A parallel strand of the SRP sees the State driving repair work in which Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) personnel work shoulder to shoulder with overseas technical teams.