Jamaica’s construction industry is pushing for targeted government intervention to unlock the growth of domestic contractors, after Prime Minister Andrew Holness recently called on local firms to scale up their operations to meet the country’s rising infrastructure and housing demand.
The call to action comes directly from The Incorporated Masterbuilders Association of Jamaica (IMAJ), which issued a formal media statement responding to Holness’ remarks delivered at a ground-breaking ceremony for the new Galina Housing Development project in St Mary this past Friday. At the event, Holness stressed that Jamaica needs a cohort of large-scale, enterprise-level contractors capable of matching the country’s growing need for affordable housing and public infrastructure, and urged domestic construction firms to expand their operational capacity to fill this gap.
While the IMAJ has expressed full alignment with the Prime Minister’s vision, the association says turning this goal into reality requires systematic government support to address the structural barriers that have held local contractors back from competing and growing at scale. In its statement, the organization outlined a series of persistent challenges that prevent domestic firms from increasing their asset bases, investing in modern heavy equipment, upskilling workforces, and taking on large-scale national projects.
Among the most pressing issues identified are uncertain government payment timelines, unstructured procurement processes that derail long-term project planning, and long delays in resolving contractual variation claims. The IMAJ also highlighted the unfair competitive advantage held by foreign contractors, which often access preferential financing and concessionary agreement terms that are not available to Jamaican private construction companies.
The association also pushed back against the common public narrative that attributes all project delays to contractor misconduct or inefficiency. It noted that the majority of project delays stem from systemic issues outside of contractors’ control, including last-minute scope changes, delayed design finalization, slow regulatory approvals, unforeseen site conditions, and backlogs in variation processing across public sector agencies. If these systemic weaknesses are not acknowledged, the IMAJ argues, local contractors are unfairly blamed for issues they cannot resolve, which discourages the domestic talent and private investment needed to build a sustainable long-term construction sector.
To address these gaps, the IMAJ is calling on the Jamaican government to develop a formal Emerging Contractor Capacity Policy, co-designed in direct consultation with the organized construction industry, that targets four key priority areas.
First, the association is calling for a dedicated national contractor capacity building programme, to be administered either through the Development Bank of Jamaica or via a formal partnership with public housing entities such as the National Housing Trust (NHT). This programme would provide domestic construction firms with critical support including affordable equipment financing, working capital loans, bonding facilities, technical skills training, and management capacity building. The IMAJ emphasized that local firms cannot make the large-scale investments Holness has called for without access to low-cost capital to fund expansion.
Second, the association is demanding sweeping reform of Jamaica’s current public procurement and project management systems. It notes that the current laborious, slow-moving procurement process discourages private domestic firms from bidding for public sector contracts. The IMAJ says public sector agencies must be held to the same accountability standards that the government requires of contractors, with binding, defined timelines for completing procurement approvals, certifying contractor invoices, processing variation claims, and disbursing approved payments. Persistent uncertainty around these timelines makes it impossible for contractors to maintain the investment and growth the government is asking for, the group added.
Third, the IMAJ is calling for a transparent, enforceable regulatory framework governing foreign contractor participation in Jamaican projects. The association expressed support for Holness’ commitment that foreign-led projects should not be extractive, and must include mandatory transfer of skills and technology to local workers, create space for Jamaican technical expertise, and include binding corporate social responsibility commitments. The IMAJ argues these commitments must be formalized as legally binding contractual obligations, with public, measurable targets for local employment percentages, local subcontracting requirements, local materials procurement, skills certification outcomes, and community investment. All foreign contractors would also be required to publish annual compliance reports to meet these obligations.
Finally, the IMAJ has formally requested a permanent seat at the table during the policy development process, arguing that any national policy designed to build local contractor capacity that does not include input from the organized construction industry will fail to address the real, on-the-ground constraints that domestic firms face.