Holness names rebuild oversight body

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RRA) established to manage national rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. (Photo: Garfield Robinson) BY LYNFORD SIMPSON

Observer writereditorial@jamaicaobserver.com March 20, 2026 Holness names rebuild oversight body ...establishes FAST Jamaica to drive investment Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Thursday announced the creation of an oversight committee to drive the work of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (Na

RRA) established to manage national rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

According to Holness, the Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC) will operate similarly to the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) which monitored the implementation of Jamaica’s economic reform measures. The prime minister said Professor Peter Blair Henry, who is currently a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, will chair JAMRROC. Blair is also vice chair of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the boards of Citigroup and Nike.

Holness made the announcements during his contribution to the 2026/27 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives.

He said the search for Na

RRA’s chief executive officer is also well-advanced and shared that following an open After tabling the Bill that will establish Na

RRA, Holness announced that a complementary reform to Na

RRA, the Facilitated Acceleration of Strategic Transformation (FAST), will address investment attraction. “This will be a part of our national growth inducement strategy through investment,” Holness said. He explained that FAST Jamaica will 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 Na

RRA network of projects. The prime minister said that the framework will focus on projects in sectors that will shape Jamaica’s competitiveness: Energy infrastructure; digital infrastructure and telecommunications; logistics, air and sea ports; water, sewage and desalination; low-income housing and urban development; high-value tourism including wellness, medical and sports tourism; entertainment and the creative industries; STEM education and research; specialised healthcare; high-value agriculture and agro-industrial processing; advanced manufacturing; and critical minerals including rare earth elements. Cabinet will retain the ability to designate additional sectors where strategic opportunities arise.

The prime minister told the House that central to FAST Jamaica will be a Strategic Investments Council — a high-level body tasked with the initial screening and evaluation of major investment proposals.

He noted that elements of this already exist within Jampro, the Development Bank of Jamaica, and the Cabinet Office.

“The council will assess the strategic merit, economic impact, and national interest considerations of each proposed project, and will recommend to Cabinet the most appropriate development modality — whether public-private partnership, joint venture, concession arrangement, or otherwise — as well as whether the project should proceed through direct negotiation or a competitive process,” said Holness. He explained that projects approved by Cabinet will be designated Strategic Investment Projects and will benefit from accelerated approvals across Government, coordinated regulatory engagement, and dedicated facilitation teams to ensure efficient execution. FAST Jamaica will also allow the Government, where appropriate, to engage with unsolicited proposals from investors — recognising that some of the most transformative projects originate from private sector proprietary knowledge.

“FAST Jamaica is not about weakening safeguards — it is about modernising how the Government partners with strategic investors in a fast-moving global economy,” Holness assured. He stressed that fiscal exposure will continue to be rigorously assessed by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

“Cabinet will retain full oversight of final agreements. But what will change is the speed, coordination, and clarity with which Jamaica engages with major investment opportunities,” he explained. Pointing out that these reforms represent a fundamental shift in Jamaica’s execution architecture, Holness said they answer the question that has haunted this nation for too long: Why does so much promise take so long to become reality?

Meanwhile, the prime minister said Na

RRA’s first and most consequential mandate will be to prepare a comprehensive projects and economic plan to be delivered within the next four years. He outlined what he called a “transformative vision for Jamaica” by highlighting several national projects across the length and breadth of the country, beginning with a plan to rebuild the Hurricane Melissa-ravaged town of Black River that will see many key buildings, like the hospital, relocated inland. The prime minister noted that many of the projects are not new.

“They have 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”. Some of these projects will be delivered through Na

RRA. Others will be executed through existing institutions and public-private partnerships operating alongside and in concert with Na

RRA. “What unites them all is a single, coherent, national vision: A Jamaica rebuilt stronger, planned smarter, connected more efficiently, and distributed more equitably — where every region of this island is a functioning engine of growth and where the resurgence we are claiming is visible, tangible, and felt in the daily lives of every Jamaican,” said Holness. {"xml":"xml"}{"jamaica-observer":”

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