Kingston and St Andrew Mayor Desmond McKenzie has promised a full frontal assault on companies that breach the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) regulations by erecting unauthorised billboards and which have outstanding fees for the city’s local government.

“The war is on,” McKenzie proclaimed at the launch Monday of Grace, Kennedy and Company Limited’s new Corporate Logo and celebration of that firm’s 83rd anniversary at the company’s head office in Downtown Kingston.

McKenzie said that next week a new round of offensives will be launched against companies with illegal billboards. “We will no longer be talking,” he warned.

The KSAC has been pulling down illegal signs around the capital and last week disclosed that eight companies owed the city government $38.7 million in signage fees.

Red Stripe was the biggest debtor with $23 million. Other firms that owed money were J Wray and Nephew, MoneyGram, McDonald’s, Burger King, Texaco Caribbean, Esso Corporation, and Shell Company.

McKenzie revealed that he had received letters from two of the companies, and while he did not say which firms or what their responses were, he declared: “You cannot operate in isolation of the law.”

Stressing that the money was for the residents of the municipality, McKenzie said that the outstanding $38.7 million could be used to resurface roads and perform other infrastructural repairs and maintenance.

The KSAC’s major problem was lack of resources, he said, and he appealed to the Government and the private sector to make the necessary funds available. “Nowhere in the world is local government treated like local government in Jamaica,” he complained.

In August last year, $1.45 billion was promised for a programme to redevelop the Downtown business district over a period of three years. The programme included the redesigning of the Parade area into a ‘cultural hub’ by July 2006 at a cost of $200 million, the redesigning of the St William Grant Park and its King Street corridor by March 2005 at a cost of $100 million, and the creation of a Central Transportation Centre at a cost of $150 million.

The Government pledged an initial $250 million and $63 million was received from private sector firms. But Dr Vin Lawrence, chairman of the Kingston City Centre Improvement Company with which the KSAC has partnered, stated two weeks ago that corporate contributions of $64 million were much less than the sum the company expected to have received in the given time period.

“I’m appealing to corporate Jamaica (for financial support),” said McKenzie on Monday.

He said that if every company in the area would act in a similar fashion to Grace, Kennedy, then the KSAC would not be in financial difficulty. He also praised the company for its community programmes, including the sponsoring of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Festival events and contribution of $30 million to the Hurricane Ivan reconstruction effort.

“There are very few companies more closely associated with the birth and growth of this city,” the mayor said. He commended the firm for remaining in the Downtown area and for “showing other companies that they can still stay Downtown and be profitable”.

McKenzie also pointed out that Air Jamaica, which a few years ago moved its corporate headquarters from Downtown to New Kingston, had returned to the city’s main commercial district.

“Downtown is safe,” he declared.