Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
PLANS BEING spearheaded by the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) to install parking metres across the Corporate Area are stuck in park.
Cabinet had approved the implementation of the multi-million dollar project more than three years ago.
Under the project, 444 parking metres were to have been installed over a five-year period at a cost of between $18.5 and $20 million. However, to date not a single new metre has been installed.
PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS
Last December, the NIBJ told The Gleaner that it was still in negotiations with prospective investors. More than six months later the NIBJ is still talking.
"No investors have been selected. Negotiations with the current prospective investors have not yet been finalised," read a response from Megan Deane, director of project operations at the NIBJ.
The NIBJ declined to divulge details on the reasons for the delay.
"The National Investment Bank of Jamaica Ltd. is not at liberty to release the requested information during the negotiating process," a statement from the NIBJ said.
Lincoln Evans, acting town clerk at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), confirmed that the project is in limbo.
"The proposed project where on-street parking will be privatised is more or less at a standstill. On the last occasion the investor wanted to include the KSAC's off-street parking facilities in New Kingston as a part of the whole deal and certainly, the Council is not prepared to go that route," said Mr. Evans.
BRAKES ON PROJECT
He added that the formation of the Kingston City Centre Improvement Company (KCCIC) has also helped put the brakes on the project.
"The Corporation is not in a position to say to the investor that on-street parking in downtown is up for negotiation because we are in partnership with the KCCIC. (However), on-street parking in New Kingston is still on the table; the offer is still there for someone to take it up," Mr. Evans revealed.
A source at the KSAC told The Gleaner, however, that the project might never materialise as the investors are seemingly hesitant to commit. When asked about the possibility of the project being abandoned, Mr. Evans said that possibility should not be ruled out.
