THE Transport Authority (TA) said yesterday that most of the motor vehicles it disposed of in a 2008 auction were sold as scrap metal as there were no bids for them.

The State-run agency made the claim as it dismissed suggestions that the vehicles were under-priced.

The authority has been coming under pressure since a news item, quoting from a report of the Auditor General’s Department, showed that some of the seized vehicles were sold for under $5,000 each.

Said the TA: “Of the 205 vehicles sold under sealed bids, by the auctioneer, 114 of these vehicles were sold to a single company at a cost of $483,200.00, as there were no bids for these vehicles which were mostly scrap. In light of the foregoing, the vehicles were bundled and the price negotiated.”

“Seventeen other vehicles, which were sold as a part of the sealed bid process, were not sold to the highest bidder because, even though that bidder had been successful at the time of the opening, they later withdrew the bid for various reasons, including the fact that the preferred vehicle was not awarded. Consequently, the auctioneer accepted new bids for these vehicles.

“In keeping with Section 13A (1) (c), which states that “an advertisement giving notice of such sale to be published in a daily newspaper one month before such sale”, the notice of the auction was published on October 24, 2008.

“It is important to note that the Transport Authority responded to all queries from the Auditor General’s Report and, subsequently, a follow-up exercise was done by the Auditor General’s Department. The Auditor General’s Department indicated their satisfaction with the corrective and preventative measures taken by the Transport Authority and, consequently, the authority was not required to appear before the Public Accounts Committee,” the TA said yesterday.

The authority’s managing director, Donald Foster, said that the audit referred to in the recent press report was part of the Auditor General’s Report on an Information Technology Systems Review of the Transport Authority, dated April 2012.

The report, he said, covered a number of areas to include cash management, badge processing, access controls and network security, Licensing Management Information System (LMIS) user group, environmental security, business continuity management, multiple legal claims, seized vehicles, governance and human resource.

“There was no specific query about the procedure used in the auctioning process. Rather, the concern of the Auditor General was the possible payment of the proceeds into the Consolidated Fund. Based on the costs associated with the storage of the vehicles, and other administrative expenses, the authority did not profit from the venture. It should be noted that some of the vehicles auctioned were in the pound for in excess of eight to 10 years. Furthermore, it should also be noted that the current executive and senior management teams of the authority were not involved in the 2008 auction exercise,” he said.

Under the Transport Authority Act, if a seized vehicle remains in the possession of the police or the authority for more than six months, it may, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed under the Road Traffic Act, be sold by the police or the authority to recover the cost of storage.

However, despite the power given to the authority to dispose of such vehicles in its possession for longer than six months, both the Route Taxi Association of Jamaica (RTAJ) and the Jamaica Association of Taxi Owners and Operators (JATOO), which has islandwide membership, on Friday described the disposal of the vehicles as frightening. They are expected to discuss the issue at meetings this week.

“The Transport Authority needs to revisit the bidding system that is now in place. We believe that what is in place needs to be restructured as it is unfair for vehicles to be seized and then sold at such low prices,” said JATOO’s Edgerton Newman.

“The Transport Authority needs to look at its bidding system, as what obtains is untenable. We have always said and will continue to say that PPV vehicles must not be seized,” added the RTAJ’s Sophia Campbell.