Concern raised about rental cost for St. Thomas MC to occupy Morant Bay Urban Centre

 

Concerns are being raised about the cost for the St. Thomas Municipal Corporation to occupy the Morant Bay Urban Centre. 

 

Minority Leader in the St. Thomas Municipal Corporation, Hubert Williams, says it will cost the corporation $10.3 million monthly to occupy the building. 

 

Mr. Williams, who is also Councillor of the White Horses Division, raised the matter during Thursday's monthly meeting. He questioned the exorbitant fee for rental of the space in St. Thomas.

 

He said, in order for the Municipal Corporation to make that payment, a decision would have to be taken to significantly increase fees.

 

"I can't understand why government involved in something like that.... It's like the government only put in the land in the deal, and then you have all these private investors that fund the building. So it's going to guarantee maybe $60 million a month from government agencies that [are] going to use the building. So it's a rip off of St. Thomas people. Any business person rent a place by the urban centre with this type of rent, them haffi go sell the things three times more than what it selling [for] in Morant Bay. There will be no comparative advantage for them, so it will never work. How a government agency like the council gonna pay $10.3 million per month?" he questioned.

 

Mr. Williams said the cost could further increase as the rent is priced in US dollars.

 

"So every time the Jamaican dollar devalue, it going to go up. We can't close our mouth about it. It is sad news to the people of St. Thomas. When we a think 'bout urban centre, we neh nah think 'bout this," he lamented.