Investors pay over $100m

... yet resort roads remain in deplorable condition

Janet Silvera, Hospitality Jamaica Coordinator

DESPITE COLLECTING over $100 million, Spanish tourism investors Parish Council roads within the resort towns of St. Ann and St. James remain in deplorable conditions.

The St. Ann's Bay and St. James Parish Councils collected the monies for building fees from the construction boom currently taking place in the western part of the island. Falmouth and Lucea await a similar windfall with the construction of the Fiesta and AM Resorts hotels.

The St. Ann's Bay Parish Council has collected over $50 million from the RIU III and the Grupo Pinero developments in that parish, while the St. James Parish Council has pocketed the same amount from the Iberostar and Palmyra resorts currently under construction in Rose Hall, Montego Bay.

The councils have an obligation of granting approval of the building plans and the monitoring of the actual construction of these resorts.

None of the monies collected has been put back into fixing the deplorable roads within the tourist resort areas or replacing the obsolete fire trucks which have become a cause for concern to many stakeholders within the tourist industry.

CREATIVE WAYS

However, Mayor of the tourism capital, Noel Donaldson, has justified that general operating expense of the council has used up most of the revenue, owing to the fact the council has to find creative ways to fund itself.

He said if they were receiving property taxes, which was to be used for roads, street lights, collection and the disposal of solid waste, they would be able to divert the building fees money elsewhere. "We are always in a hole in respect to our ability to do road maintenance," the mayor stated.

Councillor Donaldson said 90 per cent of the property taxes collected goes directly to the Ministry of Local Government, while a measly 10 per cent is given to the councils. Secretary Manager of the St. Ann's Bay Parish Council, Mrs. Dorothy Delgado, confirmed his comments.

Mrs. Delgado, who said she welcomes the new investors with open arms, stated that her council spent over $9 million to extend and improve the St. Ann's Bay market. "We removed over 200 vendors off the streets into new and improved market facilities," she told Hospitality Jamaica.

In addition, she said $3 million was used to asphalt the grounds at the Ocho Rios produce market, which is located in the centre of that resort town and to pave the public parking area.

According to Mrs. Delgado the new investors have been of great benefit to the council.