HYLTON

Noel Hylton, chairman of the Port Authority of Jamaica, has denied submitting a report last year on the controversial Sandals Whitehouse project involving $2.5 billion of cost overruns.

This contradicts a statement made this year in Parliament by Opposition Spokesman on Investment, Karl Samuda, in which he asserted that Hylton had issued a report critical of the management of the hotel project.

Samuda had also charged that Hylton's report was studied by the Cabinet.

In a letter to Marjorie Campbell, the president and CEO of the Urban Development Corporation, dated July 18, 2006, Hylton affirmed that he did not submit a report to (then) Prime Minister P.J. Patterson who had appointed him to lead an inquiry into the matter in 2005.

Hylton's letter read in part:

"I had several meetings with the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) and Gorstew Limited. During these meetings, I came to the conclusion that I could not successfully bring the parties together. Since there was no meeting of the minds, and at the same time a forensic audit was ordered, I did not think it was necessary to submit a report, and accordingly did not submit one".

Letter sent to pm

A copy of Hylton's letter to the UDC boss was reportedly sent to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Patterson's successor, several weeks ago.

In his contribution to the Budget Debate in June this year, Mr. Samuda quoted liberally from a document, showing that the project management firm, Nevalco, went beyond the parameters of its project management contract in ordering additional work on the hotel. Mr. Samuda said the report was prepared by Hylton.

Last month Contractor General, Greg Christie submitted to Parliament a report on the Sandals Whitehouse project, detailing cost overruns totalling US$41million, and blamed principal partners in the project, the UDC and Gorstew Limited.

Both of these companies have challenged aspects of the report, in the wake of which Dr. Vincent Lawrence resigned from the chairmanship of the board of the UDC and several other public bodies.