IT IS now quite clear that the six-month time frame set for the Office of National Reconstruction (ONR) to spearhead relief efforts after the passage of Hurricane Ivan was overly-optimistic.Hurricane Ivan is five months behind us and many of its scars have been removed. The head of the ONR, Danville Walker, has, however, cited significant projects on the ground to be completed and so is pleading for more time - at least nine more months to the end of the year.
While we support the objectives and work of the agency in general, we must be wary of the ONR becoming another 'temporary projects agencies' that assumes a life of its own and like others, perpetuating itself indefinitely. After the 1951 Hurricane Charlie, several land authorities were set up for the rehabilitation and development of damaged watershed areas. These land authorities remained in place for more than 20 years thereafter. An agency for the elimination of illiteracy is still with us, 30 years after it was set up. If anything, the problem it was aimed at tackling has become worse rather than disappearing.
Nevertheless, Mr. Walker has a point. The government perhaps underestimated how long it would take to get a major agency up and running, for it to complete its wide-ranging and complex task of national reconstruction after a major hurricane, and wind down by March 31 this year.
USAID alone has put up $18 million of reconstruction financing, the first tranche expiring in April, one month after the ONR is scheduled to be disbanded, and the rest running to the end of 2005. Jamaican companies pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, not all of which is yet in, and for which it is sensible to retain a central collecting and management agency of the trusted calibre of the Danville Walker-led ONR.
The construction of houses for residents displaced in areas affected by storm surges is just getting under way. The process may seem slow, Mr. Walker pointed out, but the ONR has taken the time and the trouble to do the technical work to get it right. At the same time, the Jamaica Teachers' Association has been complaining that several schools that were extensively damaged by the hurricane are yet to be repaired.
So while there has been a fairly rapid return to a semblance of normality, post-'Ivan', there is much more reconstruction work waiting to be done and some funds earmarked for the purpose remain available.
We, therefore, fully endorse the position of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, expressed through its president, Beverley Lopez, that the ONR be allowed to continue beyond the March 31 termination date. Mr. Walker's interim report indicates both sound stewardship and much work, as quite specific projects, left to be done. With the benefit of hindsight a more realistic deadline for the ONR's wrapping up should then be set.
