

Durrant Pate/Contributor
Harmony Cove, the much-heralded Government of Jamaica (GOJ) joint venture hotel and casino gaming project in Trelawny, continues to bleed the public purse.
Harmonisation Limited, the State-governed enterprise behind the high-end integrated resort development with multiple lodging and amenity options, continues to haemorrhage, with the company’s latest audited financial showing net losses climbing to almost one billion dollars in one year alone.
The project, which has been in the making since the GOJ signing of a joint venture with the Tavistock Group in September 2006, is yet to come out of its gestation phase, suffering from multiple setbacks and many delays. The GOJ wholly owns Harmonisation Limited through the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) and the National Housing Trust (NHT).
It was incorporated in April 2003 with its mandate being the long-term capital development of the Harmony Cove property. The company is also the owner of its subsidiary Silver Sands Estates Limited with properties at Silver Sands in Duncans, Trelawny.
Latest financials
Harmonisation Limited is yet to start construction, with its latest financials, tabled in Parliament on January 28, showing losses ballooning. For the financial year ending March 31, 2023, Harmonisation Limited recorded a net loss of J$969.2 million, which represents a 15 per cent higher loss when compared to the previous year’s losses of J$838 million.
Harmonisation Limited is solely funded by its shareholders companies, NHT Trust and the DBJ. During the period in review, the shareholders advanced a total of J$95.15 million to aid the continuing operations of the company.

Total assets were reported at J$2.829 billion consisting mainly of land and buildings. The company is still in the development stage of the project and so has incurred development expenditure. Consequently, the prerequisites for the development of the project have been the rationale for the expenditure undertaken during the period.
Normally these expenditures would have been capitalised and written off after the construction or development, according to IAS 38 Accounting for Intangible Assets, all expenses incurred during the development stage of the project must be charged to the profit and loss immediately, hence the recorded losses shown on the financial statements.
The income earned by the Harmonisation for the year ended March 31, comprises rental income earned by its subsidiary Silver Sands Estates Limited and the completion of the sale of nine Silver Sands lots. The consolidated income stood at J$21.23 million, a decline of 85 per cent (previous financial year: J$144.24 million).
Negative shareholders equity
For the period under review, shareholders’ equity continued to have a negative balance of J$969.22 million for the period 2022/23, a J$131.22 million increase or 16 per cent above the negative balance of J$838 million in the prior year.
Harmonisation recorded administrative and other operating costs at J$152.08 million, which was 15 per cent decline J$178.98 million in the prior year. The company’s asset base contracted from J$2.865 billion the prior year to J$2.829 billion for the year under review.
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