The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) has received $1 billion from the government to begin clearing the approximately 500,000 truckloads of debris that resulted from the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

Executive Director of the NSWMA, Audley Gordon, noted that the sum is in addition to an initial $500 million that the authority received shortly after the category-five hurricane devastated much of the island.

“In total… so far, the government has dedicated over $1.5 billion to the Debris Management Programme. That early phase, for us here, just for NSWMA, the government put in $500 million, and they have since put in another $1 billion,” Gordon said.

He was speaking at a press briefing at the NSWMA head office in St Andrew on Monday, January 12.

The authority also announced that a Debris Management Committee has been established to provide the operational and administrative oversight necessary to clear the debris in parishes that were substantially impacted by the powerful storm.

Gordon explained that the temporary operational Unit, made up of a director, two managers, and other staff members, will focus solely on the daily management of employees and local contractors who are working on clearing the debris.

Commenting on the rationale for the committee, Gordon said that “it is absolutely necessary because the scope of this particular Debris Management Project requires a kind of administrative and operational focus that would be very distracting and, in fact, destabilising of the regular domestic garbage collection operation”.

“We could not do the two things at once with the same leadership, focusing on both and doing them successfully,” the executive director added.

The committee will utilise the 10 tipper trucks that were recently handed over to the NSWMA, in addition to engaging with private trucks, local labourers, and heavy-duty equipment operators to clear debris from the various areas.

Additionally, the NSWMA plans to collaborate with scrap metal dealers to salvage and repurpose materials from the debris taken from hurricane-damaged communities.

“A meeting was held with some players in that industry, and we are also asking other players to contact us because we believe that a huge percentage of what is out there could be taken up by that sector. And those discussions will continue as we seek to build partnerships and move as expeditiously as possible to clean the country of all the debris from Hurricane Melissa,” Gordon said.

The executive director disclosed that 27,000 truckloads of debris have already been cleared. However, noting the scale of the remaining work, he urged the public to remain patient as the NSWMA completes the recovery process.