MONTEGO BAY, St James — The St James Municipal Corporation has received an interim insurance payment of $120 million as compensation for assets damaged by Hurricane Melissa last October.

Chairman of the corporation Mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon says the money will be used to start the repairs on hurricane-ravaged facilities.

Addressing the regular monthly meeting of the corporation on Thursday, Vernon said, “We are at procurement [stage] with the Charles Gordon Market [and] we have started reconstruction of the shops in the Harbour Street Craft Market. We are also dealing with procurement for the infirmary.

“We have also started the procurement process for the [municipal corporation] building, identified the contractors to deal with repairs to the ceiling you are observing now, and other sections,” said Vernon.

During the Category 5 storm several of the corporation’s assets suffered severe damage leaving the local authority with a massive repair bill.

Those included the Charles Gordon market which lost its roof, Jarrett Park which lost a lighting tower, and the Catherine Hall Sports Complex which suffered significant flooding and wind damage.

When asked about the situation at the Catherine Hall Sports Complex, Vernon explained that despite the recent lease arrangement for the facility with a private entity, there are still obligations for the municipal corporation.

The Catherine Hall Sports Centre in Montego Bay which was badly damaged during the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

“It’s not free money. The facility is insured and it carries its own value, its own insurance, and its own clauses to activate the insurance, so we are not giving them free money,” declared Vernon.

“We have allocated $20 million to deal with restoration of the facility which we should have done before we handed it over to them [the private entity] but we are working with them now to ensure that they have a facility that is usable, workable moving forward,” added Vernon.

The municipal corporation recently linked a 25-year lease agreement with the Montego Bay Multi-Sports Development Ltd (MBMSDL) for the facility.

Vernon explained that the funds being allotted for the repairs of the Catherine Hall Sports Complex will need to go through processes linked to public procurement.

“As a matter of fact, for it to be done they [MBMSDL] will have to submit officially to us the request to repair the particular part of the stadium that we have activated that funding to repair. So for example [if] they are doing the lighting, they have to submit something and it has to go through the procurement process and the approval given before it can be allocated,” explained Vernon.

In a subsequent interview with the Jamaica Observer, Vernon explained that the initial insurance payment is not enough to implement all the repairs necessary and the corporation is awaiting more money through those mechanisms.

“There’s another payment to be made, so that is why this one is called interim. The interim is $120 million, and that is what we’re using to fund our recovery for the assets that we have.

“Our damage is significantly more than that — several times more than that — but we will see what the next payment is as we continue the negotiation with the insurance company to address the damages that we have on all our assets,” said Vernon.

He pointed out that there are complexities in how insurance works and noted that despite insuring a space for a particular sum, the policy may not pay the amounts the municipal corporation desires.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a weird process but it’s a little complicated, it’s not straightforward all the time. You will insure a property for say $400 million like the Catherine Hall stadium. After doing the checks, you realise that you did not lose $400 million so you will get a pay-out according to what the value of the damage on that particular section of the property is,” Vernon underscored.

“But you will also face penalties if you under-insure — if you don’t meet certain requirements in the agreement and so forth — and by the time you get the pay-out, it’s significantly less than what the property was insured for,” he explained.

But the the mayor said the municipal corporation is looking forward to continuing the rehabilitation and restoration of several of its key assets as the insurance payouts are made.

“The more pressing ones, we have attended to them and we have started that process,” declared Vernon.