The foreign ministry has bought 20 of the 37 BMW 5-Series motorcars provided by the German automaker for the ICC Cricket World Cup, Robert Bryan, executive director of the Local Organising Committee confirmed yesterday.

The cars will replace the ministry’s protocol fleet.

Bryan could not say how much money the ministry spent on the cars, only that they were acquired at a concessionary rate.

However, on Tuesday in Parliament, Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies placed a figure of $22 million beside the foreign ministry’s spend to replace its protocol fleet, adding that the present fleet was over 10 years old.

“Thirty-seven 5-Series BMW cars arrived in Jamaica late last month for use to transport team officials during the World Cup,” Bryan told journalists at a news briefing in Kingston yesterday.

“BMW is the official car sponsor of the tournament. As a consequence, there has been agreement between the ICC and the commercial rights holders for BMW to supply BMW cars across the region for those governments that wish to participate in it.”

Bryan said the cars were presented at no cost to the LOC and that the Government was required to allow the vehicles to come into the island on the condition that they must be sold at the end of the tournament.

“The agreement we have with the Ministry of Finance is that we have permission to import our requirement to cover ICC VIP, teams, sponsors and other transport requirements,” he said. “Our number is 37. We have secured the 37 cars. The cars are in Jamaica. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will own 20 of these cars which are being purchased by the ministry to replace the VIP protocol fleet and we are in the process now of securing buyers for the other 17.”

Bryan said that the cars can only be sold to agencies that have duty concessions “and if we can’t sell them, they have to be sold at the full dutiable price”.

“It is our obligation at the LOC that at the end of the tournament we are to dispose of the other 17 cars and we are actively out there engaging ministries and agencies as our first target to get rid of these cars, based on there requirements,” said Bryan.