PNP criticises $115m annual lease for NaRRA headquarters

 

 

The People's National Party is accusing the government of wasting public resources in the decision to lease office space at the Digicel Building in downtown Kingston to house the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA). 

 

A statement from the Office of the Cabinet on Monday said NaRRA had entered a five-year lease for its new headquarters for US$726,000 or J$116 million per annum. 

 

Operations at the location are scheduled to begin by November 1.

 

Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson argues that there are other buildings which are owned or leased by the government which could have been retrofitted for NaRRA. 

 

"Jamaicans are not asking whether the rent matches the market. We are asking why is it being paid at all. As far as we know, taxpayers are still paying $4.5 million a month for the former Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs building on Fairway and Old Hope Road. Why was not NaRRA placed there? Why not at the OPM or the ODPEM? And if NaRRA needs offices that can work through hurricanes, is it taking over the ODPEM's job? An authority that has been created to cut through bureaucracy has begun by building overheads," the opposition spokesman complained.

 

Mr. Robinson contended that one year of the rent could repair breakaways that cut off communities, schools and homes and restore damaged classrooms, or ease hospital shortages.

 

He has demanded that the government table the full, unredacted lease for the NaRRA headquarters.

 

"Families in Western Jamaica are still under tarpauling. A reconstruction agency's first priority should be roofs on homes, not a waterfront address. Much like the nearly $750 million spent on an empty tax office in Mandeville, still unopened six years later, this is yet another example of this government's wasteful use of public resources. We are calling on the government to publish the full lease, the valuation, the cost of furnishing the office and the approved posts and their salaries. Transparency is not optional when it is people's money. Every dollar spent on comfort is a dollar withheld from recovery," he declared.

 

The government statement on Monday said the Digicel Building was designed and constructed to withstand multiple environmental hazards and incorporates structural and engineering features intended to support resilience.

 

It added that the expenditure was in keeping with existing standards and market rates.