Jamaica — The preliminary estimate of damage to Jamaica’s major road network caused by Hurricane Beryl, which struck the island on July 3, has been put at $10.25 billion by the National Works Authority (NWA).
This was revealed in a ministerial statement delivered by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
He noted that Jamaica has about 25,000 kilometres of roads, of which 5,000 kilometres are major roads and the rest are local roads.
“Data and information are still being collected from the ground, but preliminary assessments indicate that over 500 local roads have been affected to varying degrees,” the premier said.
“This is a significant issue for our major road network in terms of the level and cost of repairs required. We are still tallying up damage to local roads,” he added.
Holness noted that many areas remain inaccessible, complicating government relief efforts. He said all of the 200 major roads reported to have been blocked by the NWA have now been reopened to at least one lane of traffic.
The prime minister said the destruction of infrastructure was preventing access to vital services, including health care, and that damage to health facilities was estimated at $1.8 billion.
“Around 38 percent of public hospitals have been affected, with significant damage to infrastructure, including the need to relocate patients, mainly due to roof damage,” he told parliament.
He also pointed to widespread outages of electricity, water and communications services.
“The shutdown of these essential services exacerbates the suffering of our citizens who are struggling to cope with the damage in the aftermath of the storm,” he said.
“In terms of livelihoods, farms, fishing and small and medium-sized businesses have been severely affected. These sectors, which form the backbone of our economy, have suffered huge losses and many people have lost the means to feed their families.”
The Prime Minister, who toured several parishes after the hurricane, said the fishing villages of St. Elizabeth and Clarendon were devastated. He said the government must find the financial resources to help the affected fishermen. He said help must also be provided to small business owners, including corner shopkeepers, who also suffered huge losses.
