More than a year, even before Hurricane Melissa, my administration has been speaking to the public about the need for the Jamaican bureaucracy to improve its efficiency and for the Jamaican productive sector to improve its productivity, for the Jamaican worker to improve its productivity. uh to the point where I read the comments they say they're saying no prime minister stop talking about it and fix it it is your job agreed but in our democracy which is a liberal democracy we have to talk a lot about things when we went to parliament with nar one of the biggest criticisms was that where was the consultation so it's not just talking it's bringing the public into my thinking and sharing my mind with the public very important that that process process be done so that no one can say I'm surprised. Now we are drawing close to the point where we will have to take actions. Now we're not going to explain away the problems or explain the problems forever. At some point we have to act and we're getting close to that point. NAR and Jamrock are points of action that speaks to the government's direction towards efficiency and productivity whilst maintaining probability, accountability and transparency. So what I want to do this morning is to speak plainly about what has been happening while people have been waiting about what comes next and about how Jamaicans will be able to see for themselves whether the construction the reconstruction is moving with urgency, discipline, accountability and efficiency which they do have a right to expect. Much of the work required to rebuild properly happens before construction becomes visible. In the months since Melissa, thousands of damage assessments have been completed. In fact, tens of thousands of damage assessments have been completed across parishes and thousands of properties have been surveyed. Geotechnical and hydraological studies are underway in communities, most communities that have been affected. Engineering designs have been commissioned. Financing is being structured and the procurement framework is being put in place. And I want to say a few words here about the procurement framework. I want it to be absolutely clear speaking to our public servants in the ministry of finance, public procurement commission, all entities that have anything to do with procurement. The current procurement framework cannot support the speed and pace and enterprise that is required to deliver NRA projects. We're going to put in place a new order that will facilitate but at the same time ensure the highest level of competitiveness, accountability, transparency and efficiency of the use of public resources. Now this work is necessary because it will determine whether we build quickly enough and what we build makes sense, whether it is resilient, whether it is safe and whether it will last a lifetime. So what we are planning to do it is not merely to rebuild what was there. It is to rebuild better and rebuild stronger. but rebuild smarter and we need to do this at pace and with speed. That is precisely why we established the national reconstruction and resilience authority. The scale of what confront us cannot simply be added to the existing workload of ministries and agencies and be expected to move with the urgency required. The existing ministries and agencies and departments could not be asked to undertake this new workload that we plan to put forward. Our existing machinery of government was designed for ordinary administration. What we face is an extraordinary national undertaking involving reconstruction, major infrastructure, housing, water, roads, economic recovery, and the strengthening of communities against future disasters. Other countries faced with disasters of exceptional scale have reached similar conclusions. Indonesia established a dedicated reconstruction agency following the Indian Ocean tsunami and New Zealand established the Canterbury earthquake recovery authority following the Christurch earthquakes. Queensland in Australia created a dedicated reconstruction authority after its floods. So dedicated mechanisms have been used elsewhere because reconstruction on this scale requires concentrated authority, coordination and implementation capacity. The next disaster will not wait for us to complete the reform of every ministry, every approval process and every administrative system before it arrives. Indeed, as we meet today, Jamaica is again confronting another crisis, another disaster, and that is the drought. When we refer to resilience, we're not simply talking about preparing for the next hurricane. We're talking about resilience against all manner of shocks so that our people will still have running water whether or not it rains. Our roads and bridges will survive extreme weather and our communities can withstand flooding and our homes are built in safer locations to stronger standards and our economy can recover quickly after disaster. So resilience is not just a mere event. It is a continued program of deliberate strategic