Rethink living, doing business along vulnerable coastline – Holness

WESTERN BUREAU:

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness is urging residents, commercial property owners and business operators in Black River, and the coastline community of Parottee in St Elizabeth, to rethink their continued occupation of the town’s vulnerable coastline, warning that emotional attachment to land and longstanding business locations must be weighed against the growing threat of devastating hurricanes and storm surges.

Holness appealed for an intelligent, science-based approach to deciding where people live, establish businesses and invest in property.

“I respect people’s property rights. I respect people’s prescriptive rights. I respect and totally understand the connection with your land, but I also say to you that we have to take a far more, I’m going to use the word intelligent view, meaning the willingness to use data to drive decisions,” Holness said.

He warned against assuming that another catastrophic hurricane was decades away, disclosing that flood-risk mapping showed a storm surge of just one metre could inundate almost the entire town.

“We cannot spend billions repairing public buildings only to leave them in the same vulnerable locations and face the same losses when the next major hurricane arrives,” he cautioned.

Holness disclosed that the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) had been tasked with identifying suitable lands near Black River for a climate-resilient urban centre accommodating essential government services and critical businesses currently exposed to coastal flooding.

“The idea is not to abandon Black River. The idea is to move the critical services and critical businesses out of the zone of inundation,” he explained.

He said even the newly rehabilitated hospital, restored at a cost exceeding $300 million, would eventually require relocation because flooding could prevent patients and emergency personnel from accessing the facility.

“The long-term approach is that the hospital really cannot stay here,” Holness declared.

He indicated that redevelopment could involve government acquisition of privately owned properties, with some affected owners potentially offering equivalent properties in the new location.

“It may mean that we will have to purchase the property that you have here for some people, not for everyone, and then we say here is an equivalent property in this new location that is available to you,” he said.

Other owners could choose to sell their properties, with the UDC undertaking land banking and facilitating the transition.

However, Holness stressed that the historic waterfront would not be abandoned, but could continue accommodating businesses capable of recovering quickly after disasters.

“The idea could never be to kill off this historic town of over 300 years of history, but you have to be strategic,” he said.

He promised consultations with residents and commercial interests before decisions were finalised, acknowledging that relocation would require sensitive negotiations.

“What I feel is better may not be what you feel is better. So we have to have a little dialogue about it,” Holness said.

He acknowledged that contracting and procurement delays had stalled preparation of the redevelopment plan, but promised its completion soon.

He gave no timeline for construction or details of compensation arrangements, while insisting that the transformation must ultimately improve residents’ lives.

“Transformation means that you are going to move from one state to a better state,” Holness said.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com