Dionne Rose, Business Reporter

A Transport Ministry spokesman on Tuesday admitted that the new, state-of-the-art transport centre in the hub of Half-Way Tree in St. Andrew is likely to cost four times the income it generates to keep the facility running.

"There is a projected $75 million gap between what is projected to be earned and what is intended to maintain the facility," said Reginald Allen, communications manager at the Ministry of Transport and Works. He said government would plug the gap until the facility becomes self-sufficient.

The centre is projected to cost more than $100 million to operate annually, said Allen, a figure confirmed by Pat Bellinfanti of the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), the state agency overseeing the management of the facility.

Finalising budget

But last night, when pressed on the cash flow projections and anticipated income, Bellinfanti told Wednesday Business that the PAJ was still finalising the budget and was unable to comment at this time.

The centre, which opened Saturday, was built as a joint project between Jamaica and Belgium at a cost of $4.9 billion, 80 per cent of which was in the form of an interest-free loan with the other 20 per cent repayable at 4.0 per cent per annum.

The centre can handle 580 buses per hour and some 200,000 commuters are expected to use it daily, with special accommodation for the physically challenged and visually impaired commuters. There is no charge for buses and transport operators to use the facility.

Instead, earnings are projected to come from food court concessions, rental of the 17 commercial shops and six commercial kiosks, and lease to Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), which will use the bus park as a terminus.

"JUTC is a tenant at the centre just like the Transport Authority and those who have commercial interests," said Allen. "So, income for the centre itself will come through all those users of the centre."

Advertising fees are eventually to be added to the mix.

Up for tender

Allen also said only a few of the shops had been rented; the others are being tendered, which also accounts for the income gap.

"Based on where things are now, it suggests that there will be a $75 million gap now but that is to be gradually chiselled down with the full incorporation of the commercial elements and the improvement in the volume of buses," he said.

According to Allen, the government is relying on the business savvy of the PAJ to turn the facility into a profit-generating centre.

The PAJ is operating the centre through its subsidiary, Port Authority Management Services Limited, said Bellinfanti, and has hired accountant Victor Green as manager.

Green formerly worked with Deloitte Touche as a senior accountant from 1998 to 2001 and also operated his own accounting firm, Accounting and Financial Advisors Limited.

Prior to being hired by the PAJ, he worked in Florida and Georgia, U.S.A., with real estate companies before returning to Jamaica in 2007.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com