NaRRA Aims to Fast-Track Rebuilding and Community Recovery

Today marks 6 months to the day since Hurricane Melissa carved a path of destruction along Jamaican southern coast. Some who speak in this house I have come to appreciate are not truly seized with the realities on the ground. The realities in communities like Parrottee, Galleon, and Black River. They do not appreciate the frustration of the people in places like Middle Quarters, Dalintober, Prospect.

The challenges in communities like Slipe, Vineyard, Hodges Land. They have not been relocated from their homes like many of us who resided on Crane Road, Spice Grove, Forest Mountain, Newtown, and many more in Southwest St. Elizabeth. They are resident in their doctor's office focusing on reshaping the human physique while we have to focus on reshaping and rebuilding lives in communities.

For us, the hurricane is not a memory, but a daily reality that continues to shape how we live, work, and rebuild. In those communities, the damage is deeply personal and immediate. Homes were torn apart, roofs lifted clean off their structures, fishing equipment lost to sea, and small businesses which represented years of sacrifice and investment were wiped out in a matter of hours, leaving families not only displaced, but uncertain about how they would recover. Today the Gleener picks up some of Like Basil who lost his house and his business.

Like Sonia Linton who lost her house and her business as a fish vendor in Black River. Those people are impatient of this debate. And they are quite frankly sick and tired of what appears to not be constructive intervention, but politicking. Where one member seems to be more concerned about where the hurricane made landfall.

Another telling us about the beginning of the end. Instead of focusing on an expedited reconstruction process. Madam Speaker, of course the government welcomes suggestions that strengthen the framework. In fact, we have been clear.

Some of those suggestions have already been taken on board. However, what cannot be countenanced is an attempt to demonize the bill. To portray the bill as lacking accountability and an attempt to delay the bill and delay the reconstruction of this country. Madam Speaker, since Hurricane Emily, the government has restored access to many communities.

Have carted away hundreds of trucks of debris. Have worked with JPS to bring back electricity to a level in a faster time frame than any other disaster of this magnitude. Persons have started to receive grants from the Ministry of Labour. Fishers have seen containerized solutions being put in their communities.

We are rebuilding critical infrastructure. Inputs have been provided to help restart agriculture and fisheries. The NGO community has answered the call. Entities like World Central Kitchen, Samaritan's Purse, CORE, GEM, American Friends of Jamaica, BREDS have been in these communities to help with the rebuilding effort.

We have truly seen some of the best of Jamaica in response to this disaster. However, we cannot ignore a reality. Communities like a party have not yet recovered and are in need of a clear, coordinated reconstruction effort that prioritizes speed and efficiency while operating in a transparent framework. That is NARA.

Madam Speaker, the bill which seeks to establish a national reconstruction and resilience authority is conducting not a routine rebuilding exercise. It's a national recovery effort that spans housing, infrastructure, livelihoods, and economic activity, all of which are interconnected and require a level of coordination that goes beyond the capacity of any single agency operated in isolation. We have seen that the recovery can become fragmented if different entities working with different mandates are not aligned and there's not a central coordinated entity. This is precisely the gap that NARA is intending to address.

NARA represents a structural approach to reconstruction, bringing together the various strands of recovery into a single framework that is designed to accelerate delivery, reduce duplication, improve accountability for outcomes, and ensure that communities are not left navigating a patchwork of processes that slow rather than support their recovery.