Kingston, Jamaica: Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that the government will provide $1 Billion to assist the people who lost their homes and their livelihoods got destructed, while Hurricane Beryl hit the country on July 3.
PM Holness revealed that the money will be used for the repair, reconstruction and relocation of the damaged houses during the Beryl. He further stated that the amount will be either in form of grants or other forms to help the people.
A total of 5,153 houses have been assessed to evaluate the damage, to begin the relief and recovery efforts. Only Manchester, Clarendon, and St Elizabeth are left rest all the areas have been undergone assessment, the areas left will be assessed during the upcoming week, PM shared during the parliamentary session.
The Prime Minister further shared that this initiative will be implemented through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. He also made it clear that not every damaged house will qualify for the receiving of grants for the restoration, reconstruction, and relocation. The process will be followed for the houses that qualifies the assessment and the decision will be taken keeping that as the base.
PM Holness stated, that the criteria and the conditions on what they have agreed upon will be shared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, as of now we have established the criteria and have not finalised it. He further stated “we can’t finalise them until we have the full assessment, because you want your criteria to match what you have assessed.”
He also said that in other words nobody will want to have the criteria that does not fit with what is actually needed in the field. Also, the authorities will consider income as a parameter that will decide who qualifies. The people with insurance, there are programmes that they will announce shortly.
PM Holness also said that a standard grant will be allocated based on the damage caused. But the criterion must be matched and Members of Parliament who are helping the needy by using their Constituency Development Fund will also require to submit the names of individuals and also their tax registration number. This all is needed “so that we are able to crossmatch.”
