KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister, Dr Andrew Holness, has announced that the country has officially entered the reconstruction phase of the Hurricane Melissa disaster response.

Holness noted that this transition was supported by the near-completion of utility restoration, a rebounding agricultural sector, and lower-than-expected inflation.

“For electricity, I can say that we are 98 per cent recovered [and] for water, we are 97 per cent restored. Agricultural output has rebounded more quickly than anticipated, and perhaps most encouraging, inflation has come in below what we had anticipated,” he explained.

The prime minister was delivering the keynote address at the official launch of the Cedar Creek housing development in Westchester Drive in Portmore, St Catherine, on March 3.

He maintained that the stable inflation rate has enabled the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) to reduce its policy interest rate to 5.5 per cent in February 2026, which the prime minister described as a “huge deal”.

The reconstruction phase centres on long-term investments in housing, schools, and public infrastructure, ensuring all structures meet climate-resilient standards.

Furthermore, the Government will evaluate the potential relocation of specific facilities, while fortifying the power and telecommunications grids for greater utility resilience.

The prime minister noted that all three phases – relief, recovery and reconstruction – operate simultaneously but the Government strategically focused resources where they are most essential at each stage.

“In the initial weeks after the disaster, it would have been on getting relief supplies, humanitarian supplies out to displaced families. Then after we have closed that, the effort would be on getting the electricity grid up, the water grid up, students back to school, hospitals operating. That’s the recovery phase. And so, we can say we have successfully closed that phase and now we are moving into the reconstruction phase,” the prime minister explained.

Meanwhile, Holness noted that Jamaica’s overall recovery from Hurricane Melissa has significantly outpaced expectations.

“As a sign of how the recovery is going smoothly in most instances, the Bank of Jamaica has also revised its projection for full economic recovery downwards from, I believe it was three to four years; now they are saying we can recover within two to three years. So that shows you how the recovery has been managed,” Holness asserted.

— JIS