A Year After Melissa, Jamaica Keeps Building, and Montego Bay’s Road Faces a Missed Deadline

Construction continues across Jamaica a year after Hurricane Melissa. The Montego Bay road that was underway before the storm now faces a deadline it may miss, and the National Housing Trust begins its 2026/2027 build plan.

A year after Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Jamaica on October 28, 2025, construction is still under way across the island. The photographs in this piece show a concrete pour on a road deck, a bulldozer grading a new roadbed, a multi-storey building going up, and a new house in a housing development. They are not all storm rebuilds, and this piece does not treat them as one.

The Montego Bay Perimeter Road was on the schedule before the storm arrived. The Gleaner reported on October 16, 2025 that the government was considering a phased opening of the bypass ahead of a 2026 completion date, and the Observer reported on October 17, 2025 that the project was slightly ahead of schedule.

Costs have moved the other way. The Observer reported on June 17, 2026 that the project cost had risen by US$80 million.

A pause and a deadline at risk

The Observer reported on September 9, 2026 that work on the bypass had been paused. The Gleaner reported on September 10, 2026 that the pause followed the death of engineer Clifton James on September 3, and that China Harbour Engineering Company was reviewing its safety procedures. The Gleaner put the bypass at about 90 percent complete and the wider project at about 87 percent.

The Gleaner also reported that the end-of-September target could be affected, and that Works Minister Robert Morgan would tell the public whether it would be met. The Ledger has not found an official update after mid-September, so the status described here stands as of that date.

On September 9, 2026, Morgan toured the project. The Observer reported on September 11, 2026 that earthworks were about 60 percent complete, according to Stephen Edwards of NROCC, and that the road is being widened from two lanes to four between Howard Cooke Boulevard and Barnett Street. Morgan said results of a drainage study covering Montego Bay would be announced in December or January. A multi-storey building under construction in Jamaica appears in our third photograph; the Ledger has not tied it to a developer or program.

Housing on a separate track

The National Housing Trust will begin construction on 10,675 housing solutions in fiscal 2026/2027, according to the Public Bodies Estimates tabled in the House of Representatives on February 12, 2026. The Jamaica Information Service reported on February 19, 2026 that 5,673 of those solutions are to reach the market during the year, and that planned capital expenditure for the work is J$50.3 billion.

The new house in our photograph is at Coral Spring Estate in Trelawny. The Ledger has not confirmed that the estate is an NHT project, so the picture illustrates the housing type rather than the program's output.

What to watch

Three dates matter: any update on the end-of-September road target, the drainage study Morgan expects in December or January, and how many of the 5,673 homes reach the market during the year. For a business reader, the questions are whether the road's higher cost and delay carry into the next public works budgets, and whether the housing program delivers the volume it has announced. The Ledger will report both as the documents arrive.