Gov't says public funds not being wasted as NaRRA office lease scaled back

 

 

Amid growing public outrage over the government's decision to rent space at the Digicel Building in downtown Kingston, to house the new headquarters of the National Resilience and Reconstruction Authority (NaRRA), the Government has announced a scaling back of the space that is to be rented. 

 

The Parliamentary Opposition, civil society and members of the public have been criticising the $115 million a year cost to rent the office space amid concerns about limited financial resources. 

 

The government initially said NaRRA had entered a five-year lease agreement for its new headquarters, at a rate of US$726,000, or J$115 million per annum. It also indicated that the Digicel Building was selected as it was designed and constructed to withstand multiple environmental hazards and incorporates structural and engineering features intended to support resilience. 

 

But, speaking in Kingston on Wednesday Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness admitted that the public outrage had forced the government to review the lease agreement with Digicel. 

 

He said the NaRRA headquarters will be housed on one floor, as opposed to two, under the new arrangement. 

 

Prime Minister Holness warned, however, that this decision will affect the pace of the roll-out of projects, but said it was the correct decision to be pursued, having listened to feedback.

 

"So what we have decided to do is to scale the operations. So we're not going to do the full launch out as we would want. It is in a way sad because it is going to impact the delivery of projects as quickly as we would like. But it's democracy that we have and I can't go outside of the public will and how the public views things, no matter how well I am able to explain it to them. So in a sense, the public view and understanding shapes the outcome, and that is how democracy works," he sought to explain. 

 

"So I've said to [NaRRA CEO Ambassador Antony Anderson], as best as we can, instead of doing the two floors where you would roll out the organisation as quickly as you can, we will start with one floor and the people there will have to double up and work fast and earn the credit or the trust. So it's what we're going to have to do because more than anything else we have had to fight a political battle to get here. We don't intend to lose it," Dr. Holness declared.

 

The Prime Minister denied claims that the government has been wasting public resources.

 

"The public can be assured that we are not wasting your funds. We hear what you say. We will cut it back. It will have an impact in how we will be able to deliver the things you actually want, but we understand that. We will work even harder with our sweat equity in trying to get this thing done. And it will have an impact obviously on reducing the cost," he insisted while speaking at an Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) retreat at the Terra Nova Hotel in St. Andrew on Wednesday morning.

 

 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Holness said the government is struggling to find suitable space to house various ministries and government agencies, hence the decision it took to lease the Digicel Building in this instance. 

 

"I've seen people saying there's a building here and nobody's occupying it and I've checked. You know, the government is in a bad state as it relates to purpose-built and functional spaces that can carry its operations as required by the public. When it's not parking, it's leaking, it's sick building, it's air conditioning that is failing, it's buildings that were designed 50 years ago that are simply not functional to serve the public," he described, suggesting that many public sector workers "suffer quietly" in these conditions.

 

"But we just don't have the buildings. We simply don't. And even some of the newer buildings that are designed, they weren't designed for the functionality and the up-time of government. So...even though we take those buildings, we have to make significant modifications to it. So I just want to say to the public, I understand. But it is also my duty to kind of share with you some of the considerations that go into the decisions we make."

 

In justifying the use of the Digicel Building, Information Minister Dr. Dana Morris Dixon said the former Ministry of Legal & Constitutional Affairs building could not be used to house the new crop of public servants as it is plagued with persistent structural issues.     

 

"The Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, you know, was rolled into the Ministry of Justice. They had to come out of the lease for that specific space, and from my checks this morning, it had to do with issues of leaking in the building and also electrical, significant electrical problems in the building. So that staff is actually now being housed in a gym in the offices of the Ministry of Justice. In terms of the square footage and how much they would be accommodating, the information I have is that they were trying to find space for 100 to 120 members of staff, but they also would have a lot of engineers and consultants coming into the country periodically in relation to the reconstruction efforts and so you'd have to have a space," she pointed out.

 

While Cabinet ultimately intervened following public backlash, the minister said approval of the original arrangement did not rest with Cabinet.

 

"The lease did not come to Cabinet because it did not meet that requirement. It has to go through the NLA process where the National Land Agency does its assessment. Is this value for money? Is this really what the market is? So we would have known, well I know I certainly would have known, Prime Minister would have known after the fact, and so we heard the outrage and we did really responded really quickly last night. I don't know what other spaces they looked at. From what they've reported, they looked at many spaces," said the minister, who was speaking at Wednesday's post Cabinet press briefing. 

 

 

In the meantime, the Prime Minister has admitted that his administration is struggling to find the money to issue grants to the victims of Hurricane Melissa. 

 

He said the downturn in the economy is making it difficult to find the resources.

 

"The people who are still waiting on their grants...we're desperately trying to find the budget because you know the expenditure on NaRRA establishment is about $100 million in terms of the rental, but we would have to be finding several billions of dollars to pay the grants that are outstanding. So what we've been doing, we paid $10 [billion], then we found $2 billion and we're trying to find some more billions, which hopefully we could get that in a supplementary coming up soon. So more billions, that more people can get their grants. It is something that weighs on me heavily, and as best as we can, we will get those grants up. It is our commitment to do so," he pledged.