Over 500 Hurricane Melissa-damaged roofs repaired under phase one of gov’t-led programme

Director General at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Commander Alvin Gayle, says 507 roofs that were impacted by Hurricane Melissa have been repaired under Phase I of the Government-led roofs repair programme.

The initiative is one of six primary components under the Shelter Recovery Programme (SRP).

“That programme is being implemented by the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and her military partners, from as far as Africa, and we’ve had some Caribbean participation as well,” the Director General stated.

He was speaking during a JIS Special Interview with Chief Executive Officer, Giovanni Dennis, at ODPEM’s offices in Kingston on Tuesday.

“Just over $200 million would have been spent from donated funds on that programme, which was also supported by some $400 million worth of donated building materials and sundries,” he stated.

Commander Gayle said that Phase I of the programme, for which ODPEM had strategic oversight, is being closed out now.

He noted that ODPEM is in the process of completing a report on the houses repaired, their locations and the extent of the repairs undertaken.

In response to concerns raised by the Auditor General regarding the programme, the Director General acknowledged that there were some gaps in how the documentation surrounding inventory was treated with. 

“We have put in stronger measures to ensure, operationally, that at all points of delivery onto these forward-operating bases manned by the JDF, that an ODPEM representative will be there for the countersigning of the receipts to occur,” he informed. 

Commander Gayle emphasised that the concerns raised by the Auditor General did not surround material going missing but rather the lack of countersigning on all the delivery receipts, as is required.

He further addressed concerns regarding the selection of beneficiaries, noting that this process is done solely by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, which has a robust programme for identifying the most vulnerable in the society. 

“They go through a matrix of maybe about 10 or 11 pointers, and then the listing that we get and share with the JDF for implementation is ranked by these vulnerabilities. So, there is and has always been in place the matrix around which these persons are selected,” Commander Gayle stressed.

He noted that the agency has also, through a whole-of-government approach, started looking at the various programmes across government to ensure that persons are not benefiting from more than one of the relief programmes.

“For example, the persons who have benefited from the ROOFS (Restoration of Owner or Occupant Family Shelters) programme…we would not expect that such a person would now simply benefit from also the Government-directed roof repair programme,” the Director General explained.

He maintained that as a result of lessons learnt from Phase I of the repair programme, the agency has put in place a proper monitoring and evaluation framework.

“The MOUs (Memoranda of Understanding) will be put in place. Those are under review as we speak. So, all those matters for making it a full, complete project are in place, and we do expect that we'll be able to satisfy every single gap that was identified in Phase I of the programme,” Commander Gayle said.

- JIS

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