Henry still holding hopes to get railway on track

Says he is unable to access $340m in development bank

BY INGRID BROWN Observer senior reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com

Thursday, February 17, 2011

TRANSPORT Minister Mike Henry says the revitalisation of Jamaica's railway could be fast-tracked if his ministry was not experiencing great difficulties in accessing more than $340 million sitting in the Development Bank of Jamaica since the sale of Government shares in the cement company several years ago.

According to Henry, when shares in the cement company were sold, portions of that money was set aside to restore the railway, some of which was later loaned to the Sugar Company.

"I have been given so many different stories in relation to whether I have to go to Parliament to get it or come up with a business plan but the fact is that I just cannot access that money," Henry told the Observer shortly after addressing Tuesday's Rotary Club of St Andrew's weekly luncheon meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus in Kingston.

Henry explained further that he has made every attempt to access the fund, and despite having received the support of the prime minister and the finance minister he has not been successful.

Henry, who accused the previous administration of neglecting the Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC), said it took a year and a half to find out that the money designated for the revitalisation of the railway network had just been sitting in a bank.

"I have not been able to access that for many reasons and so I am now fighting very hard to get that done," Henry said.

Henry said if this fund could be accessed the railway would have already began running some of the proposed developmental plans.

In addition, Henry said his ministry would also have been able to pay PriceWaterhouse the $96 million it owes for a study conducted by that firm on the economical realities of the railway.

He said that although he has received that study he is unable to use its data because the money has not yet been paid.

For now, Henry said he is currently working on a draft to take to Cabinet for a further discussion on the matter. "It should have been done last week but I am still refining it in discussions internally and I will be taking it back to Cabinet next week," he said

Meanwhile, the transport minister said plans to restore the railway system in Jamaica is still on track as discussions are now being held with investors in the United States and United Kingdom after talks with the Chinese fell through.

"I have been held up by procurement exercises as to how fast I can move; we had four offers of rehabilitation of the railway and I passed that out as a request for proposal but I have been asked by the OCG (Office of the Contractor General) to hold and get back to Cabinet," he explained.

Until a firm offer is reached, Henry said the JRC will be pushing ahead with test runs of some of the rail cars with the first passenger rail scheduled to operate from Spanish Town to Linstead.

He said the development of the railway will be done in stages and will serve the bauxite industry as well as to accommodate other types of cargo on that run and carry passengers. Additionally, Henry said there will be a leg for the 'heritage or visitor market'.

"I am hoping within the next nine months to have the rum tour back on stream," he said.

And with the bauxite downturn said to be impacting the earnings of the JRC, the transport minister said the revitalisation of the railway also offers the greatest investment into transfer of data.

"There should be no need for these high towers if you were transferring data by the railway which runs into 11 parishes," he said, adding, "there is an option for someone to run fibre optic cables along the railway line."

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Henry still holding hopes to get railway on track