Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the Government has a very robust system to ensure transparency and accountability in the award of infrastructure contracts, particularly in housing.

Speaking on Friday at the handing over of a social housing unit in Hanover, Holness said all Government contracts and services must be subject to a rules-based process and systems of laws which are independent of political interference.

“None of these contracts are just handed over to anyone to build the house. There is a sense among many persons in Jamaica that Government can take up a works contract and say, ‘my friend here you go’. That may have been the case 20-30 years ago, but that is certainly not the case today. Everything goes through a competitive process, a rules-based process,” said Holness.

The prime minister declared that political interference should not take place in the process.

“There are persons who keep making demands on Member of Parliament, on Government officials [saying], ‘I want a contract, I should get a contract’. And it is not so. It cannot be so. It is illegal. And if any Member of Parliament, any public official gets involved with the giving out of a contract that is the basis for criminal prosecution.

“I want to make that absolutely clear… Public officials, particularly elected representatives have absolutely no involvement in the vetting or the procurement process for contracts. That is absolutely off limits,” declared Holness.

More than 286 units under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) have been built with approximately 230 handed over to beneficiaries who go through a rigorous process to verify the need, he said.

Holness says having established the standards of housing units to be built, the Government will now seek to partner with other organisations such as Food for the Poor to speed up delivery to expand and speed up delivery of units. An estimated 6,000 housing units are needed to address chronic housing issues for those in greatest need.

The prime minister officially handed over three more units under the NSHP in Hanover on Friday.