JUTC racks up $1.15 billion in unapproved staff plus massive overtime cost

The Auditor General's report on the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) Limited has unveiled worrying findings at the state-owned bus company.

The report was tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

READ: Auditor General's Report on JUTC

It cites periods from 2014 to 2019 and highlights, among other things, failures of the company's board of management, the unapproved hiring of staff above the capacity of the entity and hundreds and millions of dollars in overtime payments although the JUTC was overstaffed.

See summary of main findings below: 

1. Board of directors failed to implement the necessary internal controls to protect the financial resources of the company.
2. Had an unapproved staff capacity costing an accumulated $1.15 billion that was not leveraged for operational efficiency
3. Management exceeded the overtime budget by $728.6 million, despite excess staff capacity
4. Failed to advertise vacant positions and engaged staff in unapproved positions or without the minimum qualifications in breach of its human resource administration policy and procurement guidelines.
5. The Ministry of Transport and Works was deficient in its oversight of the JUTC to ensure adherence to the Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act and the GOJ Corporate Governance Framework.
6. Board failed to implement recommendations of the Internal Audit Committee.
7. Ministry did not ensure that the board adhered to the Risk Management Framework to protect the interest of the JUTC

Other issues in the report:
1) Net accumulated shortage of more than 231,000 litres of fuel valued at approximately $36.5 million between 2014-15 and 2018-19.
2) 36.5 per cent decline in ridership between 2014-15 and 2018-19.
3) 11.6 per cent decline in available bus service between 2014-15 and 2018-19
4) $178.7 million of obsolete spare parts at end of 2018-19.
5) 16 buses (average) out of service for 139 days (average) awaiting parts.

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