Corporate Area bus commuters could be caught up in a conflict between the Ministry of Transport and Works and private bus franchisee, National Transport Co-operative Society (NTCS), if a dispute over fees is not settled by next week.

Efforts by the NTCS to get an extension of its sub-franchise to operate in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR), which expired at the end of December, have been stalled by its failure to pay licence fees dating back to August 2008.

In a release yesterday, the ministry said that consent given to the NTCS by the Government-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) to operate in the KMTR will not be renewed until the fees are paid.

The ministry is also concerned that the NTCS is disputing the amount owed to the JUTC, and has failed to produce the audited financial statements required as a condition of the extension of the licences.

At a meeting yesterday between the parties, which also involved representatives of the Attorney-General's Department and the Transport Authority (TA), the ministry insisted that the NTCS must pay up ahead of any possible extension of its licences.

"While we need them as part of the overall transport arrangement in the KMTR, they cannot be allowed to be a law unto themselves," the ministry's communications consultant, Reginald Allen, commented last night.

NTCS executives could not be contacted for a response but it is understood that following the firm stand taken by the ministry yesterday, the co-operative has indicated that it will seek to meet the conditions laid down by the ministry prior to another meeting expected early next week.

The NTCS is said to owe the JUTC and the TA at least $17 million in outstanding sub-franchise fees. The ministry also wants the co-operative to fulfil its other obligations by the end of the month.

"The meeting culminated with the NTCS being advised to make the payment as a basis for consideration of an extension of the expired licences, with the financial statements being also insisted upon by the ministry team," the release from the ministry said.

Allen said that the JUTC, which has the exclusive operating franchise for the KMTR, has been mandated by minister of transport and works, Mike Henry, to have the matter resolved quickly, failing which the law will run its course.

Henry has said that his ministry is awaiting the outcome of the NTCS' case against the Government in the United Kingdom Privy Council in respect of the co-operative's transport franchise operations to make more permanent decisions on public transportation policy in the KMTR.

The NTCS is seeking damages in respect of claims of losses sustained after the Government reassumed control of the bus company's franchise area after establishing the JUTC in 1998. Since then, the NTCS has had to negotiate with the JUTC to operate on specific routes.