By Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner WriterTHE QUESTION of which Government agency owns the Olympia Apartments in Papine, St. Andrew, appears to have finally been settled with both the Ministry of Health and the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) accepting that the apartments in question are still in the possession of the Commissioner of Lands.
Accordingly the UHWI and the National Land Agency (NLA) have reportedly agreed on the continued lease of the facility by the hospital, with more realistic rates to be paid by the hospital.
This information was provided to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Tuesday.
When the matter was initially raised in the PAC two months ago, the members were informed by Grace Allen-Young, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, that the facility should be in the possession her Ministry. She said then that the Ministry was not receiving any rent from the UHWI, which was in occupation of the apartments.
But Stephanie Reid, chief executive officer (CEO) of the UHWI, later asserted the claim of the hospital to the facility, stating in a letter to the Permanent Secretary that it was the hospital, which in 1981 reached an agreement with A.D. Scott, owner of the hotel, to purchase the set of apartments, with an entrance on University Crescent. The rest of the facility, with an entrance on Old Hope Road, would be retained by Mr. Scott, and was not included in the agreement.
PURCHASED THE PROPERTY
Ms Reid said in her letter that it was the UHWI which had approached the then Minister of Health, who took up the matter with the Commissioner of Lands, who purchased the property on behalf of the hospital for housing its staff.
When she last appeared before the PAC, Mrs. Allen-Young told the committee that in 1982 an agreement was drafted for the UHWI to lease the property (from the Ministry of Health) at a rate of $68,000 per annum, but that this agreement had not been executed.
At Tuesday's PAC meeting, Mrs. Allen-Young complained that too much "heavy weather" had been made of the issue, both within and outside of the PAC.
The UHWI, she said, was an agency of the Ministry of Health, and likened the dispute to an issue between two family members.
She told the committee that the most recent research into the matter confirmed that the Commissioner of Lands, having purchased the property, had handed over management of the facility to the Ministry of Health in 1982.
The ownership of the property was not in dispute, she said, as it still resided with the Commissioner of Lands "who has signed the lease agreement and who has indicated that any amounts due should be remitted to the National Land Agency."
The hospital's CEO told the committee that the outstanding rental of $1.5 million, dating back to 1982, would be paid over to the NLA.
