Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
PERSONS WHO wish to use the parking lot at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay will have to pay $100 per hour for parking - a doubling of last year's rate. The rates came into effect at midnight.
According to MBJ Airports Limited, operator of the airport, the new fee structure will have persons paying "J$100 for the first hour or part thereof, an additional J$100 for the second hour or part thereof (and) parking in excess of two hours and up to a maximum of 24 hours J$300, and an additional J$300 for every 24-hour period thereafter or part thereof."
Speaking to The Gleaner yesterday, acting chief executive officer for MBJ Airports Limited, Fernando Carrandi, said that the rates may seem high, but they were set by the Government who signed off on the increase last month.
"The Government recently allowed for the increases on the rates at both Norman Manley and the Sangster International," he said. "This was done in December, but we delayed the increase until the New Year."
FUTURE EXPANSION
Noting that today's increase will make airport parking fees in Montego Bay equivalent to those in Kingston, Mr. Carrandi stated that the new rates would not affect tour operators such as JUTA and JCAL who operate under separate agreements with the airport.
Citing the airport's five-year expansion programme, Mr. Carrandi said that the additional funds would help to finance the refurbishment and expansion of the airport's parking lot.
"This increase will also have a benefit for the public as we will be adding automatic systems to process vehicles, and parking areas will be expanded," he said. "We have already installed some automatic parking systems. So to some extent construction has already started."
The airport currently employs an automated system, which opens the parking lot gate and prints a ticket showing the time the vehicle entered the lot. When the driver returns, the machine then calculates the cost of his stay according to the rates.
