- File
Olympia apartment complex in Papine St. Andrew, developed by A.D. Scott.
TWENTY-TWO YEARS after the Government purchased a set of apartments at the Olympia Hotel in Papine, St. Andrew, the question of which agency has the right of ownership to the facility has still not been settled.
When the matter was last raised in the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament two months ago, the members were informed by Grace Allen-Young, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, that the facility should be in the possession of the Ministry, but that the Ministry was not receiving any rental from the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), which was in occupation of the apartments.
COUNTER CLAIM
But in a letter to the Permanent Secretary, dated February 4, 2004, Stephanie Reid, chief executive officer of the UHWI, appeared to counter the ownership claim of the Health Ministry.
According to Mrs. Reid's account, it was the hospital which, needing accommodation for its staff, in 1981 reached an agreement with A.D. Scott, owner of the hotel, to purchase the set of apartments with its entrance on University Crescent.
The rest of the facility, with entrance on Old Hope Road, would be retained by Mr. Scott, under the agreement, she reported.
She said that the University Hospital, faced with financial difficulties, approached the then Minister of Health who took up the matter with the Commis-sioner of Lands who purchased the property so that the University Hospital could have the housing accommodation it needed for its staff.
Mrs. Reid reported that, in January 1982, the UHWI was mandated to take possession of the property pending Cabinet's decision as to which agency should eventually own the property. Since then the University Hospital has been trying to settle the ownership of the property without success, according to the CEO.
When she last appeared before the PAC, Mrs. Allen-Young told the Committee that in 1982 an agreement was drafted for the UHWI to lease the property (from the Ministry of Health) at a rate of $68,000 per annum, but that this agreement had not been honoured.
This led Dr. Neil McGill, a member of the PAC to characterize the situation outlined as "upscale squatting"!
CUTAILING EFFORTS
A different account of the situation has, however, been given by the hospital's CEO.
According to her, in the original agreement three to four rooms were allocated to the Ministry of Health, which utilised the facilities up to early 1990 when the University Hospital experienced difficulties in collecting rent from the MOH's personnel.
Mrs. Reid, in her letter to the Permanent Secretary, is maintaining that the Olympia property continues to play a critical role in the hospital's ability to retain its professional staff.
She complained, however, that the indecision of the powers that be to transfer full ownership to the University Hospital has curtailed the efforts to improve and expand the housing capacity.
