PNP blasts $115m annual NaRRA rent for waterfront office amid post-Melissa recovery

The Opposition People's National Party (PNP) has bashed plans by the Government to spend over $100 million per year to house the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) at the Digicel headquarters on the Kingston waterfront while Hurricane Melissa victims still wait for help to rebuild.

The PNP, in a media release on Tuesday, questioned why the agency couldn't have taken up space in a rent-free government building and used the millions to help families that remain without roofs or homes.

On Monday, NaRRA indicated that it had signed a five-year lease for the premises at 14 Ocean Boulevard, which was agreed at a rate of US$26 per square foot, for a total annual cost of US$725,972, or about $115.2 million at Monday's exchange rate.

The authority said the selection process included a detailed valuation by the National Land Agency (NLA), which assessed the proposed lease cost against current market values and the rates being paid by other government agencies for office space.

According to NaRRA, the assessment determined that the expenditure was in keeping with existing standards and prevailing market rates.

However, the PNP is against the decision.

The PNP asked whether the authority is absorbing the functions of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), the agency Jamaicans already fund to lead disaster response, as well as preparedness and emergency management.

According to the PNP, as far as taxpayers know, they are still paying $4.5 million a month for the former home of the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs on Fairway Avenue in St Andrew.

"Jamaicans are not asking whether the rent matches the market. They are asking why it is being paid at all," said Julian Robinson, Opposition Spokesperson on Finance.

"Why was NaRRA not placed at Fairway Avenue, a building the public is already paying for? Why not the Office of the Prime Minister, ODPEM or other rent-free state properties? Who made this decision, and which alternatives were rejected?"

Robinson argued that one year of NaRRA's rent could repair breakaways that cut off communities, schools and homes, restore damaged classrooms, or ease hospital shortages.

"An authority created to cut through bureaucracy has begun by building overhead. Families in western Jamaica are still under tarpaulin. A reconstruction agency's first priority should be roofs on homes, not a waterfront address," he said.

He added: "Much like the nearly $750 million spent on an empty Tax Administration Jamaica office in Mandeville, leased in September 2020 and remaining unopened today, this is yet another egregious example of this Government's wasteful use of public resources."

The PNP is calling for the Government to publish the lease, the NLA valuation report, the procurement record, the list of state properties considered, the status of the Fairway Avenue lease, the cost of furnishing the new office, and the staff posts approved by the Establishment Division of the Ministry of Finance, with the salaries attached.

"Transparency is not optional when it is the people's money," Robinson said.

"Every dollar spent on comfort is a dollar withheld from recovery."

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