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Damion Mitchell
Assistant News Editor
The Port Authority of Jamaica is denying a Gleaner report that it has spent more than $60 million to buy and refurbish the house in which the transport minister Mike Henry is now living.
The Port Authority said instead it purchased and upgraded the upper St Andrew house for $49.46 million dollars.
But the authority said the transport minister is yet to start paying his monthly rental of $20,000 for the upscale residence located at 5 Millsborough Crescent.
The transport minister Mike Henry would not offer detailed comments on the controversy over the multimillion-dollar house in which he is living.
He said he is preparing a full statement to be released in a matter of days.
There has been widespread controversy over the minister’s house because of the amount of money that has been spent to acquire and upgrade it especially given the poor state of the national economy.
In outlining its expenditure, the Port Authority has said between October and November 2007, the house was valued at $65 million by the National Land Agency and at $60 - $65 million by a private entity called Allison Pitter and Company.
But the Authority said it bought the house for $35 million from the now defunct government entity the Jamaica Omnibus Service Company (JOS).
The Authority said another $14.46 million dollars was spent to upgrade the house.
This includes $12.32 million for what the Port Authority calls extensive work relating to the revamping of the piping system, roof repairs, general refurbishing, equipment, appliances and painting.
According to the Port Authority, the other $2.14 million was spent on the construction of a gabion retaining wall.
This puts the grand total for the purchase of the house and the repairs at $49.46 million.
Mr Henry has been reported in the media as justifying the expenses suggesting that the house was in a poor condition and he’s not accustomed to living in squalor.
Yesterday, Mr Henry’s ministry <span style="font-style: italic">released 10 photographs seeking to support his claim. </span>
The pictures indicate that there <span style="font-weight: bold">were missing wall tiles from two bathrooms at the house, that sections of the ceiling had watermarks due to a leaking roof, and that one of the cupboards had been partly torn down. </span>
Last night we were unable to get a comment from the former transport minister Robert Pickersgill on whether that was the state in which he left the house in September 2007.
But in a July 26 Gleaner article, the former transport minister rejected assertions that the house was not habitable.
In the meantime, the Port Authority has revealed that Mike Henry has not been paying the proposed $20,000 monthly rental for the upscale house.
According to the Authority a lease agreement was sent to Mr Henry for signing with the proposed monthly rental effective June 2008 but it said the transport minister is yet to sign the agreement.
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