MIKE Henry, the Opposition spokesman on transport and infrastructure, yesterday called on the prime minister to delay signing the concession agreement for the privatisation of Kingston Container Terminal (KCT) and insisted that the Government should answer questions on the issue tabled by him in the Parliament.

At the same time, Henry suggested that the deal, under which Terminal Link CMA CGM Consortium will operate the port, will not meet the requirements of Jamaica’s desire to become a logistics hub.

“It really is going to confine us to just being a container port,” said Henry, who was the transport and works minister in the previous Jamaica Labour Party Government.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, in her budget presentation on Tuesday, announced that the Government had reached an agreement with Terminal Link for the company to operate the port.

“This transaction does not require a government guarantee and is the first transaction that would be included in the contingency ceiling legislated in April 2014,” Simpson Miller said.

The arrangement, she added, is a “long-term concession” which will include the expansion, financing, operation, maintenance, and transfer of the terminal.

“The agreement contemplates dredging, optimisation and expansion of KCT in two phases, which will include dredging of the ship channel, turning basin and some berths to accommodate post-Panamax vessels. Phase one also contemplates significant civil works to retrofit and deepen some areas of the berths,” Simpson Miller said, adding that the signing is scheduled for April 7.

But yesterday, Henry said the Government should put a hold on signing the deal and answer his questions.

Among the questions Henry tabled were:

* Would Terminal Link have qualified by itself for the bid process without either or both China Harbour Engineering Company or China Merchant?

* With the expansion of United States ports, Panama with six ports, port developments in Cuba and Puerto Rico, will limited dredging reduce the attractiveness of the KCT?

* Who now owns Terminal Link? What is the ownership structure locally and internationally? Is there an international structure of ownership?

* Will signing with Terminal Link likely diminish the appeal or limit the growth of the port in any way?

Yesterday, Henry told the Jamaica Observer that, during his tenure as minister, he had discussions with CMA/CGM and the company had agreed to extend US$300 million to US$400 million to develop a section of the port.

“It is just as we would do for Zim or for Maersk if they came back, that’s what a hub is about, not confining it to one shipping company,” Henry said.