THE Isle of Man government has started a programme of disposing of surplus land and property in order to achieve greater efficiency and cost savings.
An initial group of residential and commercial properties and land has mostly been sold, bringing in a total of £1.85 million and there are further disposals planned in the future.
The sale of the property is part of the ‘Transforming Government’ project which is designed to improve efficiency throughout government. The target is to save annual costs of £1.5 million.
“The intention is to co-ordinate the disposal of some government-owned property and to lease other land and assets, thereby removing maintenance liabilities,” said Andrew Wallis of the Department of Infrastructure properties division.
“It’s an exercise in good asset management which is accepted common practice both in governments and across the private sector.”
The first major sale of a government-owned property is the building at the prime location of 21a-23 Athol Street in Douglas which has been occupied by various government departments over many years and was originally the Douglas Registry Office for weddings and government records.
It has been sold for £875,000. Other land and smaller properties which are described as “surplus assets” have been sold to make the total of £1.85 million.
Tim Crookall, political member for the DoI properties division, said, “At this time of financial challenge for the Island’s government it is essential all departments work together to make efficient savings so that priority services to the public can be maintained.
“I am confident that our Strategic Asset Management Unit will be able to build on the results already achieved.”
As a separate issue, but also designed to achieve financial savings, the Department is looking closely at consolidating office space used by government staff, making better use of space and moving staff where necessary and beneficial.
Mr Wallis added, “We are putting a set of space standard guidelines in place to improve efficiency and reduce the overall space necessary for staff to work efficiently but also comfortably.”
Moving staff and consolidating space in government-owned office accommodation has so far achieved savings of more than £560,000 per year, according to the department.
