Colin Campbell (left), Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Technology, addresses a small gathering of contractors during a meeting of the Jamaica Mail Express Co-operative Society Ltd. (JMEC) over the weekend. JMEC president, Charles Moore, looks on. THE MINISTRY of Industry and Commerce is awaiting the findings of the Price Water-house-commissioned study of the local mail system before making decisions on new contract rates and the restructuring of the industry.
Colin Campbell, Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, told a small gathering of contractors during a meeting of the Jamaica Mail Express Co-operative Society Ltd. (JMEC) on Saturday that the study ought to be in the Ministry's possession today.
"Once the report is with us, we will go through it and have internal consultation which should take between seven and 10 days, after which we will make it available to the JMEC.
"By the end of July, we should be able to reach some agreement in terms of implementation of the report. We want to put in place a mechanism that everyone can understand so that we can go forward and form a basis on which the new contracts would be negotiated," he said.
In 1998 Price Waterhouse was engaged to do a comprehensive study of the cost of efficiently transporting mail while allowing a reasonable profit for contractors. The results of the study will be used to determine the rates to be paid to the contractors.
The report's methodology entails tacking a dollar value to the mail service provided by contractors on a route by route basis in order to show the value of each route to the postal system as a whole.
However, the report was delayed because the Government had not paid an interim bill submitted by the accounting firm last September. Price Waterhouse had stopped working on the project until the $1 million bill was cleared up.
Mr. Campbell admitted that during discussions with Price Waterhouse a preliminary figure, which he described as a 'fairly hefty bill', was bandied about, but he chose not to speculate until he had thoroughly examined the study.
In closing, the Minister urged the contractors to upgrade and improve their service, even in the face of such obstacles as bad roads.
"We value your service, but want you to focus on the service you provide so that we can be in the position to go on from here," he said.
The JMEC currently represents 72 contractors with 160 vehicles.
