St Thomas councillor outrage over high rent when municipal corporation moves to urban centre

A St Thomas councillor is raising the alarm over what he describes as an exorbitant rent hike the municipal corporation will face when it relocates to the recently opened Morant Bay Urban Centre.

According to People’s National Party (PNP) councillor for the White Horses division, Hubert Williams, the municipal corporation will be required to pay up to $10.3 million in monthly rent, up from a current rate of $300,000.

“I want people to recognise that this is a scam!” he told The Gleaner in an interview.

“How we hear seh Factories Corporation [of Jamaica] come and do things and then government agency a get charge fi go in deh—that’s a scam. Mi neva know of nothing like dat,” he said.

The $6-billion Morant Bay Urban Centre was officially opened in May by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, six years after ground was first broken.

The project has been spearheaded by the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation through the Factories Corporation of Jamaica and contractor China Harbour Engineering Company.

A number of private sector companies and public agencies will be located at the centre.

Williams, a former Mayor of Morant Bay who also sits on the corporation’s finance committee, said the rent increase was first brought to light during last month’s sitting of the committee.

He said a letter was written to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government to seek clarification.

The committee received a response in the affirmative in time for this week’s meeting, he said.

During yesterday’s general meeting of the municipal corporation, he aired his frustration over the “indefensible” increase.

“And there’s a seven per cent increase annually, and the building also is priced in US dollars, so every time the Jamaican dollar devalues, it’s gonna go up. We can’t close our mouths about this. It is sad news to the people of St Thomas. When wi a think bout urban centre, wi neva a think bout dis,” he said at the meeting.

According to him, both Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and PNP councillors are concerned about the rent hike.

“There was no rebuttal, because this is something that we discussed, and all of us come to that conclusion—that we can’t afford it, both JLP and PNP members,” he said.

Further, he said the amount of money the municipality will pay in rent yearly could be used to construct its own building on any of the lands it owns throughout the parish.

Williams is calling for a review of the rent, maintaining that it is not justifiable.

“This will give us more space, it will be a better working environment in terms of the facility itself, but… is it worth it? I can’t understand which sensible human being gonna make that argument—that it’s a more comfortable space,” he said.

- Sashana Small

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