Hanover Parish Council to receive millions
from Fiesta Resorts
Claudia Gardner, Hospitality Jamaica Writer
THE HANOVER Parish Council is set to receive tens of millions
of dollars in building fees from the 1800-room Fiesta Resort hotel
to be built at Point Estate in Lucea early next year.
Sources at the Hanover Parish Council told Hospitality Jamaica
that the building fees could amount to at least $30 million, based
on the number of rooms the group will be constructing. However,
Secretary Manager of the council, Alfred Graham, said the council
will only know for sure how much this figure will be, when the Fiesta
Group submits their building plans to the council.
"It is difficult to say, because building fees are charged
per square foot or square metre, and without knowing the actual
size the development will be, it is difficult to call on any figure
that will go to the council, in the form of revenue from that development,"
Mr. Graham said.
RECURRENT BUDGET
"Building fees are 100 per cent for the parish and go toward
the council's recurrent budget. It will remain in the parish,"
he stressed. The first priority on building fees is financing the
planning and building departments of the council to provide an improved
service to persons and developers using those areas of the council.
Mr. Graham said the planning and building departments deal directly
with development applications which come to the council for approval.
He said building fees are also used to finance "any other area
of the council's recurrent budget."
"It goes to the general pool of the 'normal operations' and
just about anything else within the council's normal budget for
the year, as well as other administrative expenses, salary and wages
for the departments, procurement of office furniture and equipment
and utilities. The revenue goes into the recurrent budget to finance
all those services, but the priority is to the planning and building
sections.
"If we have excess then the council can vote to transfer excess
for capital works programme. The council can vote to transfer any
excess on our budget," he reiterated adding that funds from
the building fees can also be used for disaster funding since the
council has a provision in its budget for disaster management.
Mr. Graham said that the Hanover Parish Council has specific rates
for residential, commercial and resort properties. At present, it
costs $80 per square metre for a residential development, $160 for
a commercial property and $300 per square metre for a resort property.
He said the council, in consultation with the certified building
companies and the Master Builders Association, looks at the current
cost of development for construction cost of projects.
"The law says a percentage of the actual value of the development
is to be charged and different sort of developments come at different
costs," he said. When the plans are submitted then the council
will know how much. The council will calculate the floor area and
the square footage in terms of square area and apply the rate to
that."
'The law says a percentage of the actual value of the development
is to be charged and different
sorts of developments come at different costs.'
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