Cliff Williams, Contributor
STATE MINISTER in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Fitz Jackson, the man with the direct responsibility to oversee the Caymanas racetrack divestment, has been making some interesting points about the exercise, recently.
Jackson, in an interview aired on television on Monday of this week, stressed emphatically that what was about to commence with the preferred bidder was in fact merely negotiations for the lease of the racing plant.
The State minister even hinted at the possibility nothing makes this a done deal and the Government was prepared to revisit the bidding process if it felt it became necessary for any reason.
Given the type of investment involved here in terms of capital outlay and the nature of the business, at this stage, I would have expected that once the preferred bidder was identified there could not be anything preventing a speedy and successful conclusion to the process.
I find it a little odd that the State minister could even be thinking it is remotely possible that there may be aspects of this negotiation on which there could be disagreement.
It would seem to me that during the inordinately lengthy evaluation stage, the due diligence exercise should have taken the process to a point where the preferred bidder, barring any unforeseen circumstances, would have been awarded the lease.
NEW-FANGLED DESIGNATION
Incidentally, I find this new-fangled designation of the potential investor as the 'preferred bidder' to be at least bizarre, if not outright ridiculous.
As far as I am concerned, the divestment process should have been arranged in such a way that at the end of the bid evaluation exercise there is a definite decision.
In any event, the State minister has revealed that both bids met the criteria in the prospectus comfortably in all respects, and, if this is the case, why is there a need now for negotiations that could possibly be unsuccessful?
The mobilisation of personnel and investment funds required to put a potentially successful bid together is a major undertaking and after what, at times, seemed to be an interminable evaluation process, for an applicant to be deemed to have no higher status than a preferred bidder, hardly makes sense.
The question must therefore arise as to how is it after this bid evaluation exercise, carried out by National Investment Bank of Jamaica, all one of the two potential investors has achieved at this stage is the privilege of merely going into negotiations for the lease of the racing plant with nothing guaranteed.
DIVESTMENT
I am afraid I have to question the wisdom of how this divestment process is being handled by the Government.
Forgive my scepticism, but it is almost as if there is still some ambiguity over divestment despite the Government's often stated commitment to this course of action.
There should be no doubt at this stage as to which investor is taking over the operations and contracts for the lease arrangements should be ready for signing. Instead, we are being told by the State Minister that even with, in excess of two months to go, the negotiations are not likely to be finalised in this calendar year.
To be fair though, Jackson, in the said interview, did use the opportunity to reiterate the Government's position that privatisation of the commercial operation of the industry is being pursued as a matter of policy as the administration is either not willing to, or capable of funding the upgrading and modernisation of the racing plant.
He has high praises, quite justifiably, for the current management of the promoting company and stressed that this decision to divest is not due to lack of viability, but to make it possible for the country to have a modern horse racing facility.
