STILL VACANT
TAJ says Greenvale retrofitting on track amid delays and millions in lease payments
Published:Tuesday | July 8, 2025 | 12:06 AMJovan Johnson/Senior Staff Reporter
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Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) says the retrofitting of its Greenvale property in Mandeville is on track for completion by September, even as concerns persist over millions in lease costs incurred since the agreement was signed in 2020. In a...
Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) says the retrofitting of its Greenvale property in Mandeville is on track for completion by September, even as concerns persist over millions in lease costs incurred since the agreement was signed in 2020.
In a written response to The Gleaner, TAJ confirmed that renovation work is “ongoing” at the former MegaMart Wholesale Club site, leased five years ago and still unoccupied.
The agency said the $847.2 million renovation contract was awarded to Southland Construction Limited through a national competitive bidding process.
When asked if the 42,300-square-foot facility had been occupied, TAJ replied “No,” but said completion remains scheduled for September, in line with the signed agreement. The site is intended to become Jamaica’s third-largest Revenue Service Centre.
A 2024 Auditor General’s Department report highlighted that TAJ had paid hundreds of millions in rent for unoccupied sites in Greenvale and Annotto Bay. Up to August 2023, lease payments totalled $371 million, with Greenvale alone accounting for $357 million. That figure rose to $451 million by May 2024. As of August 2023, the monthly lease was $11.4 million for Greenvale and $700,000 for Annotto Bay.
In its response, TAJ cited an annual lease cost of $164.3 million, linked to Greenvale, though it did not clarify whether Annotto Bay was included.
Officials blamed procurement delays, including a failed 2023 tender, for the extended timeline. They noted that government policy requires lease agreements to be in place before initiating procurement and renovations.
The agency argued that the retrofitted Greenvale facility, when completed, will offer improved tax services to thousands of Jamaicans in Manchester, Clarendon, and St Elizabeth, including indoor seating, increased parking, and an energy-efficient design.
TAJ Commissioner General Ainsley Powell defended the approach, saying the delays stemmed from procurement issues, and that it would be more costly for the Government to build a new office than to lease and retrofit. The lease, signed in 2020, is for 24 years at $85.6 million annually, excluding GCT and maintenance. The property is subleased from Cost Club, owned by Scojampen Ltd – the Bank of Nova Scotia (Jamaica)’s pension fund.
Despite the delay in Mandeville, TAJ confirmed that the Annotto Bay Tax Office opened to the public on December 19, 2024, following a projected $56-million retrofitting project. That lease was signed in December 2021 with a company owned by government parliamentarian Norman Dunn, who declared his interest in Parliament. The auditor general found no conflict in the arrangement.
Asked whether it has made any changes to how it manages lease arrangements in light of the auditor general’s findings, the TAJ said there have been “no new lease arrangements since the report”, and that it “endeavours to adhere to the relevant protocols at all times”.