A disabled JUTC bus is seen at Old Hope Road, Kingston, on June 5 after it caught fire. - Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer

The Jamaica Urban Transport Company Limited (JUTC) was incorporated in 1998 as a wholly-owned company of the Government of Jamaica and granted exclusive licence to operate the public transport service within the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region for an initial period of 10 years.

The licence should expire in September of this year.

The JUTC has only released to the public accounts up to March 2005, some three years ago.

In the two years ending in 2005, the company lost $905 million and was at that date insolvent as its total current liabilities exceeded its current assets.

It had a negative net worth of $2.8 billion and liabilities in excess of $3.6b, after being given $4b of buses, equipment, land and buildings by Cabinet decisions in September 2004.

Lack of Accountability

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works has advised that the March 2006 accounts and those for 2007 and, presumably, supporting annual reports are not available to the general public as they have not yet been tabled in Parliament. This is unacceptable.

It reflects badly on the efficiency of Minister Mike Henry's department in not submitting to Parliament accounts on a timely basis.

It is hoped that now that this matter has been brought to Minister Henry's attention, that he will remedy it expeditiously. Indeed, one would hope that the board of the JUTC (chairman Douglas Chambers is apparently being paid the amount of $1 per annum for his work) will authorise the release of current unaudited accounting information on a quarterly basis.

It is ironic that the JUTC's website states "... since the JUTC took over transportation our aim has been nothing but excellence," yet contains no information about the financial performance of the company.

The Ministry of Finance website only shows the financial performance of the JUTC up to the same date - March 2005. What is surprising is that this website appears to have different financial data than the audited accounts of the JUTC - for example, the bus company's audited accounts show a loss of $1billion, and the Ministry of Finance, a loss of $327 million.

Recommendations:

1. Chairman Chambers should immediately release to the public the latest audited accounts and annual reports of the JUTC.

2. Minister Henry should table the audited accounts and annual reports in Parliament.

business@gleanerjm.com