The Government will be establishing the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) to oversee and drive the reconstruction effort post-Hurricane Melissa.

It will have immediate access to US$1.15 billion.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness made the announcement Thursday during a special media briefing at Jamaica House.

He said NaRRA, a statutory body, will have special powers to lead, coordinate, fast-track, and oversee national reconstruction. It will be made up of a multi-stakeholder board and will report directly to him.

Holness noted that there is national and international precedent for this approach. He pointed out that it has been used in large scale disasters – for example in New Orleans in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, in Canterbury, New Zealand after the Christchurch Earthquake in 2011, and also in Japan in 2011 after the earthquake and tsunami.

“In Jamaica too, Prime Minister Patterson established the Office of National Reconstruction (ONR) after Hurricane Ivan. The ONR was set up as a special unit to co-ordinate relief and reconstruction. It was not established by an Act of Parliament,” said Holness.

He said the NaRRA will be much larger in scope and scale and established under special purpose legislation.

“Given the extraordinary powers that will be sought to expedite reconstruction, the NaRRA will be set up with a sunset date of five years, renewable by Parliament,” he said.