Tweet
UDC summoned before PAAC
BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Sunday Observer senior reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, October 16, 2011
THE Urban Development Corporation (UDC) is to be summoned by the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament (PAAC) in upcoming weeks to answer questions about the sale of 23 acres of beach front property at Little Bloody Bay in Hanover.
Committee Chair Dr Wykeham McNeill told a meeting of the committee last Wednesday that concerns raised about the sale of the lands at Little Bloody Bay, commonly known as Ireland Pen I and Ireland Pen II, were relayed to the UDC in January. A request was also made of the entity to communicate plans for any divestment to the committee first.
MCNEILL... it turned out that these lands were divested and our committee did not know about it
"It turned out that these lands were divested and our committee did not know about it," McNeill said.
The PAAC committee Chair said there were now issues about the sale of the land for $351 million despite it having a significantly higher sale value.
"There are questions with regard to the valuation which had a forced sale value higher than what it was sold for. I am suggesting that we invite the UDC as quickly as possible to look into this matter," Dr McNeill said.
Speaking with the Observer afterwards, Dr McNeill said the "dramatic change" in the valuation was considered reason enough to summon the UDC to appear before the committee.
"They (UDC) sent us some information and the two things that came up was that the 23 acres of beachfront was sold for $351 million. The second thing was there were two valuation reports. One was done by Clinton Cunningham and Associates and on that report the property had an open market value of $800 million and a forced sale value of $650 million, but on the back of the report there was a letter which said 'Revaluation report of land of Ireland Pen I and Ireland Pen II'," Dr McNeill said.
In that letter, the valuators said "further to our discussions a review of our valuation was undertaken and based on that review we had dropped the price to market value to $460 and the forced value to $380", citing the presence of a fish sanctuary on the property as one of the factors resulting in the devaluation.
Dr McNeill said while the Committee was not casting any aspersions, it felt an explanation was due.
"We thought it was important for us to talk to the UDC. We have not done any investigations, all we have is raw data. We are making no judgements otherwise," he told the Sunday Observer.
In the meantime, he said the Committee would take the opportunity to raise questions about the disappearance of 3,000 chairs and 70,000 square feet of carpeting from the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James in July of this year.
"We have been hearing a lot of things about that, but we have not gotten anything conclusive," the PAAC Committee chair said. "It can't be swept under the carpet because they are gone with the carpet," he deadpanned.
And continuing the matter of questioning agencies about projects and properties Opposition committee member Phillip Paulwell said the National Works Agency "and others" should be also summoned by the Committee to answer questions about the change of main contractor for the Palisadoes Shoreline Protection and Rehabilitation Project. Paulwell said it would be instructive for the Committee to be told the rationale for the change when the project is due to be completed next September.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1axqnt0Up
-----------
Lazie:
BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Sunday Observer senior reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, October 16, 2011
THE Urban Development Corporation (UDC) is to be summoned by the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament (PAAC) in upcoming weeks to answer questions about the sale of 23 acres of beach front property at Little Bloody Bay in Hanover.
Committee Chair Dr Wykeham McNeill told a meeting of the committee last Wednesday that concerns raised about the sale of the lands at Little Bloody Bay, commonly known as Ireland Pen I and Ireland Pen II, were relayed to the UDC in January. A request was also made of the entity to communicate plans for any divestment to the committee first.
MCNEILL... it turned out that these lands were divested and our committee did not know about it
"It turned out that these lands were divested and our committee did not know about it," McNeill said.
The PAAC committee Chair said there were now issues about the sale of the land for $351 million despite it having a significantly higher sale value.
"There are questions with regard to the valuation which had a forced sale value higher than what it was sold for. I am suggesting that we invite the UDC as quickly as possible to look into this matter," Dr McNeill said.
Speaking with the Observer afterwards, Dr McNeill said the "dramatic change" in the valuation was considered reason enough to summon the UDC to appear before the committee.
"They (UDC) sent us some information and the two things that came up was that the 23 acres of beachfront was sold for $351 million. The second thing was there were two valuation reports. One was done by Clinton Cunningham and Associates and on that report the property had an open market value of $800 million and a forced sale value of $650 million, but on the back of the report there was a letter which said 'Revaluation report of land of Ireland Pen I and Ireland Pen II'," Dr McNeill said.
In that letter, the valuators said "further to our discussions a review of our valuation was undertaken and based on that review we had dropped the price to market value to $460 and the forced value to $380", citing the presence of a fish sanctuary on the property as one of the factors resulting in the devaluation.
Dr McNeill said while the Committee was not casting any aspersions, it felt an explanation was due.
"We thought it was important for us to talk to the UDC. We have not done any investigations, all we have is raw data. We are making no judgements otherwise," he told the Sunday Observer.
In the meantime, he said the Committee would take the opportunity to raise questions about the disappearance of 3,000 chairs and 70,000 square feet of carpeting from the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James in July of this year.
"We have been hearing a lot of things about that, but we have not gotten anything conclusive," the PAAC Committee chair said. "It can't be swept under the carpet because they are gone with the carpet," he deadpanned.
And continuing the matter of questioning agencies about projects and properties Opposition committee member Phillip Paulwell said the National Works Agency "and others" should be also summoned by the Committee to answer questions about the change of main contractor for the Palisadoes Shoreline Protection and Rehabilitation Project. Paulwell said it would be instructive for the Committee to be told the rationale for the change when the project is due to be completed next September.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1axqnt0Up
-----------
Lazie:
First thing, that island isn't for sale as the PAAC Chairman admitted this morning it was the wrong property.
http://www.reggaeboyzsc.com/forum1/s...648#post314648
http://www.reggaeboyzsc.com/forum1/s...648#post314648