Minister of Housing, Andrew John, says he has informed Minister of National Security, St. Clair Leaock, about instances in which the previous government paid contractors the full amount to build houses but nothing was delivered.
The money paid to the contractors had been budgeted for the reconstruction of houses damaged or destroyed by the eruption of La Soufriere volcano in 2021 and Hurricane Beryl in 2024.
John told Parliament on Tuesday that the New Democratic Party (NDP) government, which came to office in November, has had to negotiate with companies that the previous government owed money, in order to resume the supply of building materials.
Among them was East Caribbean Metal Industries Ltd. (EMIL), which the Unity Labour Party administration owned EC$1.6 million.
The housing minister made the disclosure in response to a question from government senator Carlos James, who was MP for North Leeward and tourism minister under the Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration that was voted out of office on Nov. 27 — after 25 years.
James had asked the minister to state the total number of housing construction and rehabilitation projects earmarked for implementation in the current fiscal year, broken down by constituency, and the specific budgetary allocation for the procurement of materials for these projects.
John told Parliament that the experts in his ministry had provided him with information regarding the budgeted allocation.
“But what they have also provided me are the constraints that may hinder us [from] achieving the budgeted estimate,” the housing minister said.
“… we have discovered that what consumes a lot of our income that was budgeted for in 2026 are, one, contracts that were issued under the previous administration, where houses were supposed to have been built, and those contracts were paid for in full, … the houses were supposed to be delivered.
“To our amazement, in some constituencies … it was discovered that contracts were paid in full … but there are no houses for these contracts,” John said.
James said investigations were ongoing, adding that money owed to companies that provided building materials has been a major challenge to the government restarting the housing programme.
He told Parliament that, after being appointed minister of housing, he learned of large sums owed to companies supplying building materials.
“… we realise that we owe these people so much money that we have to now go and negotiate, renegotiate, which we have done in some instances,” the minister said.
“But the debts are so high that we could not have paid all of them. Otherwise, it would have taken all the money, and you will not have any need to ask any question, because the answer (number of houses to be built this year) would have been zero,” John said.
John said that the government owed Jamaican building material suppliers Tankweld and ARC Manufacturing Limited a significant amount of money for building materials.
But they have now been able to negotiate with local hardware companies to source some materials, John said, adding that the company has shown consideration for and wants to do business with the government.
“… our intention to do some local business as well. We have started collecting some materials from them.
John said his ministry had also begun consultations with ECMIL regarding the EC$1.6 million that is owed.
“I really don’t want to put the people’s business and our business on the road … you could understand where I’m coming from,” John said, adding that he did not want to disclose full figures in Parliament.
He said that he wanted to reassure the people of Union Island that the government was concerned about their situation.
Therefore, the government has restarted a warehouse on that Grenadine island, where Hurricane Beryl damaged or destroyed more than 90% of the buildings on July 1, 2024.
“The problem with Union Island is that the material that was supposed to be there, available to restart the programme, was delivered or handed out without any regard for accountability… Not even a nail was left in Union Island. So we basically are starting from scratch in Union Island,” the housing minister told Parliament.
However, the requisite material needed to complete the housing programme on Union Island had already been identified and will be shipped there beginning next week, John said.
The availability of land for constructing steel-frame houses was another issue in Union Island and some of the other Grenadine islands.
The minister also said the amount of money allegedly owed to truckers was also hampering the progress of the housing programme.
“Matter of fact, one trucker came to the office and he said he was sent directly to collect materials; no document, no documentation.
“Now he is to be paid. There is no documentation. So I actually asked him to get a lawyer so that he could deal with the person who sent him by word of mouth, to collect these things,” John said.
