Protecting Palisadoes

SPURRED into action by the warning from Hurricane Melissa which lashed sections of the island last year, the Cabinet has approved a US$56-million ($8.9 billion) coastal protection system for Palisadoes main road in Kingston which leads to Norman Manley International Airport and Port Royal. The Category 5 storm, which hit Jamaica on October 28, 2025, reached wind speed of up to 190 miles per hour and devastated sections of the island’s southand north-western coasts, leaving several communities inaccessible. With the pain from Melissa still fresh in Jamaicans’ minds, Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz on Wednesday told a post-Cabinet media briefing that the Government is moving to provide even more protection for Palisadoes, the narrow approximately 14.2-kilometre strip of land that serves as a protective barrier for Kingston Harbour. “The Government is advancing efforts to strengthen coastal protection along the Palisadoes Peninsula and Port Royal, safeguarding the Norman Manley International Airport, the main road that links from Harbour View to Port Royal, and surrounding communities against coastal erosion and storm surges,” Vaz said. “The initiative represents a coordinated effort to protect critical transportation infrastructure, preserve access to Port Royal, and strengthen Jamaica’s resilience to coastal hazards. So this is a far-reaching project that is going to once and for all protect the airport and access all the way to Port Royal,” added Vaz. He underscored that over the last few years the Government has made efforts to protect the strip, which included approximately 4,500 metres of revetment work. “We started back in 2007 when we did all of those boulders on the stretch. As a result of Melissa and realising that, had Melissa come closer to Kingston, the access to the airport and, of course all the way to Port Royal, would be non-existent... and seeing the work that has been done and what needs to be done, the Government has completed a comprehensive shoreline protection project [study] covering approximately 14.2 kilometres,” added Vaz. He explained that proposed works will include strengthening revetments, rehabilitating dunes and mangroves, revegetation, and 12.1 kilometres of dunes [while] improving vulnerable road sections and installing coastal monitoring systems. Underscoring that the country’s airports must also be built with resilience, Vaz noted that this project will be undertaken by the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authorities (NaRRA) under its work programme, with funding expected from its designated project pool. He said with the project being under NaRRA, the Government will ensure that the procurement process is fast-tracked, which will result in it being completed in a timely manner. “I just want to impress again, with all the noise that is being said about NaRRA, here is a project out of my ministry which has been approved by Cabinet as a NaRRA project. Just to indicate that the noise is not always what you must listen to; you must watch the sale. Here is a good sale. Money that is going to be well spent [so] that if we have another catastrophe, God forbid, and it comes closer to Kingston, we will be able to respond how we responded to Melissa to get all the flights in with relief within hours,” Vaz told the media briefing. The revetment work on Palisadoes came after Hurricane Ivan passed close to Jamaica’s south coast on September 10, 2024, leaving behind a trail of destruction not seen in the island since the passage of Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Ivan generated storm surge that caused the sea level to rise pushing mountains of sand and stones on the Palisadoes, leaving the vital roadway impassable. The sand had also formed what was later referred to as the Palisadoes New Beach, essentially strips of land on the Kingston Harbour side up to 50 metres wide. In 2007, sea water from storm surges associated with Hurricane Felix, which passed south of the island on September 3, flooded a section of the Palisadoes, making it impassable for several hours.