Gov’t looking to add speed to school repairs

THE Government could look overseas for contractors to speed up the repair and rebuilding of schools devastated by Hurricane Melissa last October. More than 600 educational institutions sustained damage from the Category 5 storm with 309 severely damaged and ranked priority one for repairs and reconstruction. At a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew on Wednesday officials of the Ministry of Education said 57 of those severely damaged institutions were fully repaired when the new school year began on Monday. The ministry said another 95 schools will be fully repaired by the end of September, and another 34 repaired by the end of December.

Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon told the media briefing that school repairs were hampered by a shortage of grade one contractors and the ministry will, among other things, explore hiring external contractors to fill gaps while ramping up efforts to upskill local contractors. Morris Dixon admitted that the current situation is far from perfect and argued that the need for contractors was even more imperative given the mandate placed on the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) — the specialised body established to coordinate and accelerate post-disaster rebuilding and long-term infrastructure resilience after Hurricane Melissa. Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris-Dixon (left) engages Permanent Secretary Dr Kasan Troupe in conversation following Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew. (Photo: Garfield Robinson) She pointed out that while the Administration is committed to continue the work to rebuild schools it has been constrained by the number of grade one contractors available in Jamaica. “When the budget for the project is above a particular…