Holness pressING FAST-forward

Signalling that delays in the implementation of critical national investment projects will soon be a thing of the past, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has indicated that his administration is advancing two powerful and complementary reforms – one aimed at building public infrastructure and the other focusing on accelerating and attracting transformational private investment.

After making his contribution to the 2026-2027 Budget Debate in Parliament yesterday, the prime minister tabled legislation to establish the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA).

He said the NaRRA would have special powers to accelerate development approvals as well as procurement, enabling the execution of resilient infrastructure projects at a scale and speed the country had never seen before.

“It will function as a single point of national coordination, eliminating the fragmentation and delay that have too often slowed us down,” he said.

Holness said his administration is also introducing a new framework called the Facilitated Acceleration of Strategic Transformation (FAST).

According to the prime minister, the FAST would form part of the national growth inducement strategy through investment.

Like the then Economic Programme Oversight Committee, the prime minister said the Government would establish a similar model forthe NaRRA called the Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC).

He announced that the JAMRROC would be chaired by Professor Peter Blair Henry, a Jamaican who is currently a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Yesterday, the prime minister highlighted several major projects, some not new, which he said would be delivered through the NaRRA and existing institutions.

ALL IN PLACE FOR CHANGE

The head of government said many of the projects appeared in development plans, consultancy reports, and policy discussions for years, in some cases for decades.

“The vision was never the problem. What was missing was the mechanism to convert them from aspiration into reality – the financing, the institutional architecture, and the enabling environment. We now have all of these,” the prime minister said.

Holness said the FAST would establish a dedicated pathway to fast-track strategic priority investment projects critical to Jamaica’s economic transformation, particularly those with an investment value of US$150 million or more that can commence implementation within a year and could be integrated into the NaRRA network of projects.

Noting that the FAST was not about weakening safeguards, the prime minister said it was aimed at modernising how the Government partners with strategic investors in a fast-moving global economy.

He said fiscal exposure would continue to be rigorously assessed by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and Cabinet would retain full oversight of final agreements.

Meanwhile, the prime minister announced that for the next two years, transfer tax on property would be reduced by 50 per cent as an incentive for redevelopment and relocation work in the parishes hit hardest by Hurricane Melissa. The parishes are Trelawny, Hanover, Westmoreland, and St Elizabeth.

Highlighting some projects that will fall under the NaRRA or other institutions, Holness said Black River would not be rebuilt to what it was but reconstructed as a “real, planned, consolidated urban core”.

He said the Urban Development Corporation, working with Jamaica’s development partners, was advancing a climate-resilient redevelopment plan that separates what belongs inland from what belongs on the coast.

Black River was devastated by Hurricane Melissa on October 28 last year.

The NaRRA will lead the construction of a new Kingston Public Hospital, said Holness, and Cabinet has already given approval for the acquisition of lands for this new facility.

The prime minister has also revisited the decades-old proposal to create an international aerodrome at Vernamfield. He said this airport would be capable of accommodating the largest commercial aircraft in operation.

At the same time, ground will be broken for two of the long-awaited six STEAM schools this year. The first will be established at Bernard Lodge in St Catherine and the second at Minard in St Ann.

Holness said NaRRA would be building the other four STEAM institutions that would take students from early childhood straight through secondary education.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com

Major projects highlighted by PM – some to be led by NaRRA

· Hopewell and Lucea Bypass and Lucea Harbour Development

· New investments for Montego Bay to revitalise the tourism capital

· Major infrastructure works to be undertaken in Falmouth to clean and modernise the town

· North-South Highway Extension Project

· Port of Kingston – Building the Region’s Premier Logistics Hub

· Government Campus – National Heroes Circle