McKenzie commits container offices for displaced StEMC

WESTERN BUREAU:

Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie has given a commitment to the representatives at the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation (StEMC) that he will provide them with four containers for retrofitting to create an office that would replace the municipal building that was destroyed by Hurricane Melissa last October.

“We have been using it (containers) in Trelawny to replace the infirmary, the prefabricated units,” said McKenzie. “I am committing four of those four-bedroom units to be converted into office spaces here for you at the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation.”

McKenzie said the units will provide urgently needed relief for the municipal workers who are now operating under cramped and uncomfortable conditions after being displaced by the floodwaters, which inundated their offices in Black River.

“That (the container units) in itself will be able to house a substantial amount of the staff,” McKenzie told staffers during a working visit on Friday.

According to McKenzie, the container offices form part of a temporary response, as the Government has already committed to rebuilding the Black River municipal building at a new location away from the town’s coastal area to avoid future flooding.

“Anything that we are going to be doing here is not going to be permanent, because the Government intends to rebuild the town of Black River,” said McKenzie. “There is no way we can say let us pick up the pieces and start back. The sea is saying to you that ‘where you are belongs to me’. It is just a matter of time before all of this is reclaimed by water.”

McKenzie said the plans for a new Black River were articulated, before Hurricane Melissa, by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, who has long expressed a desired to see the town rebuilt to it fullest potential.

“Long before the passage of Melissa, the prime minister spoke about a new town, the new Black River,” said McKenzie.

OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES

Since the hurricane, the municipal staff have been sharing limited space, which is creating operational challenges, especially where confidentiality is required.

“I know this can’t be comfortable for you, everybody in this one little place. Some of the transactions have to be done in private, and that doesn’t exist now,” he said.

McKenzie also stated that his ministry is reviewing short-term repairs to existing damaged structures to determine which can safely support operations once cleaned up and secured.

“We have looked at a number of solutions which are workable. Once we have cleaned it up, fixed the roof and do all that is necessary, it can be used for work,” he said.

Hurricane Melissa did significant damage to Black River, flooding homes, damaging municipal buildings, schools, health facilities and critical infrastructure, while displacing public-sector operations and disrupting essential services.

McKenzie said government agencies are continuing the cleanup phase as part of the recovery effort to restore Black River and the wider St Elizabeth.

According to McKenzie, by his projection, the temporary office solution will be in place before the commencement of the 2026-2027 fiscal year.

“By now and the end of February into March, you will see a new-look temporary solution that will be far more comfortable than where you are now and, in some cases, even more comfortable than what existed before Melissa came,” he said.

While permanent relocation remains a long-term process, the minister said the Government is focused on ensuring the continuity of municipal operations as St Elizabeth continues to recover.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com