by Linda Straker
- 8 buildings listed for sale have EC$18.8 million projected earnings
- Properties were sold during Tillman Thomas NDC administration
- Sale being handled by NIS Investment Committee
Eleven years after purchasing several Government properties, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has begun advertising 8 buildings for sale, with EC$18.8 million projected earnings.
Because of a lack of cash in the Consolidated Fund, to meet the monthly recurring expenditure such as salary and wages, the properties were sold by the Tillman Thomas National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration between 2012 and February 2013.
The most expensive properties for sale are a building known former as the St James Hotel in St George’s, which measures 29,402 square feet, and a lot of land measuring 54,450 square feet at Morne Rouge, St George. The asking price for each property is EC$6 million.
Among the investment properties for sale is the building known as the Drill Yard on Young Street Hotel in St George’s, which formerly housed various Government ministries before the construction of the Ministerial Complex. In late January 2023, a portion of that building near the Sendall Tunnel collapsed and is currently cordoned off by police caution tape. The asking price for the 11,284 square feet Drill Yard is EC$4.5 million.
EC$400,000 is the asking price for the 2,659 square feet property on Scott Street in St George’s which formerly housed Radio Grenada. The former Parliamentary Election Office (PEO) on Woolwich Road, located on 1,872 square feet of land has a selling price of EC$950,000.
The buildings which formerly housed parish doctors in Maran, St John, and Thebaide, and St David are also up for sale. The asking price for each building is EC$350,000. The NIS is also looking to sell 31,044 square feet of land in La Digue, St Andrew for EC$250,000.
The 2020 annual report of the National Insurance Board shows that each of the properties placed up for sale was valued less than its 2023 asking price. The sale, according to a notice in the media, is handled by the Investment Committee of the National Insurance Scheme.
The NIS Act states that the Investment Committee shall have the power to give from time to time general or specific directions to the Director, subject to the concurrence of the Board, on the investment of monies in the Fund which are surplus to current needs. The Director shall give to the Investment Committee any information necessary for the proper discharge of their functions.
The Act further says that the surplus monies in the Fund may be invested in any of the following — (a) the acquisition of land; (b) the purchase or construction of buildings; (c) loans; (d) government bonds and securities; (e) shares and debentures in bodies corporate; and (f) bank deposits.
There’s no protection for these old buildings?