MMTH Closes – Functions Transferred to Other Entities

Effective Wednesday, March 31, the Metropolitan Transport Holdings Limited (MMTH) will cease to operate and its commercial functions will be incorporated within other public sector entities.

Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman made the disclosure on Monday (March 29) at the weekly post-Cabinet Press Briefing at Jamaica House.

Outlining the reason for the winding-up of the government entity, Senator Whiteman said: “This is an indication of the Government’s commitment to rationalizing its operations, avoiding duplication, merging where mergers are possible, practical and make sense in terms of the policies that the Government is pursuing and development strategies throughout the country”.

Making full disclosure of the winding-up process, Minister Whiteman said that the MMTH’s outstanding functions would be transferred to or merged with those of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) and the Commissioner of Lands, or will be reverted to the Ministry of Transport and Works.

The Information Minister said that all depot lands would be vested in the Commissioner of Lands. Meanwhile, the value of the MMTH’s improvements to buildings thereon may be transferred to the JUTC together with the responsibility to continue the developments and construction of depot facilities under the lease agreements with the Commissioner of Lands.

Senator Whiteman informed: “The Government of Jamaica would continue to assume responsibility for public transportation in this area and as a result of the merger we expect that there will be some cost saving and certainly in a greater rational use of resource is available to the Government”.

The MMTH was established in 1995 by a Cabinet decision to develop infrastructure in the transport sector that would facilitate the restructuring of the public passenger transport system in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR).

The establishment of the MMTH was part of the government’s plan to address a number of major problems facing public transportation in the KMTR and to put in place a system capable of meeting the demands of the commuting public.