That Berbice Bridge toll

Jan 14, 2009 Features / Columnists

There is nothing that could please some people; and the more the benefits accrue, the louder one hears the critics. This time, the issue is the Berbice River Bridge, which has been more than five decades in the making and which has eventually been completed at great cost. It took the current administration to get that project off the ground.
Many governments had conceptualized the bridge, because there was the recognition of the need for a link between the eastern section of the country and the remainder of the Coast. There were plans and discussions; people decided on a number of locations for the bridge, but no one had managed to get the project started.
The Government decided to involve the private sector at a time when the international community was concentrating on making its money available to the more depressed countries and when it did not consider a project like the Berbice Bridge a priority. The Government, however, knew the importance of a bridge.
Many people would often be stranded at opposite ends of the river, either because the ferry had stopped operating, or because it had broken down. People in Berbice travelling to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport were required to leave their homes at some of the most unreasonable hours simply to ensure that they caught the early ferries. Failing that, they had to incur expenses by overnighting in the city.
There were those who often cancelled trips because they could not cope with the nature of the ferry, and this has been the case for years. Eventually, the Government managed to attract some private investors who were interested in investing in Guyana and in the project.
There were delays, because some of the materials had to be procured from overseas. When these delays occurred, the critics began to talk about a failed project. They said the same thing when there were extensions to the deadlines, failing to take into consideration that many factors would conspire to halt a project.
The bridge is now a reality, so the critics have to find something else to talk about. They are now talking about the toll structure. They say that the fare structure is too high, without actually examining what obtained in the past.
Last week, President Bharrat Jagdeo detailed the relationship between the ferry costs and the bridge costs, and actually revealed that it could be cheaper to use the bridge for certain categories of vehicles. A minibus laden with passengers would actually find itself paying less to cross the bridge than to use the ferry.
In fact, people travelling to Berbice now take a minibus in the city and travel right across the river before connecting with another vehicle that would take them to their ultimate destination. It is the same with those travelling to the city.
Further, the critics should realize that there is nothing worse than time wasting. People often waited as long as four hours to cross the ferry, depending on the volume of traffic. Those four hours could have been spent on some productive effort. A basic calculation would suffice. If a man earns $300 per hour, then in effect he was throwing away $1,200 simply waiting to cross the ferry. Indeed, the nation had lost valuable human resource in this manner.
If the lost opportunities are added to the cost of the toll for the bridge, the nation would see that the bridge has been an asset, that one must now wonder how was it that the people managed without it?
People point to the United States, particularly New York, where there are bridges that must be used for people to get to one location. If they should compare the cost, they would find that the charges are not too dissimilar. The standard rate for most of the bridges is US$8. That would translate into $1,600.
However, there is a huge volume of traffic, which more than compensates for the lower charge. If in Guyana there was that volume of traffic, as is the case with the Demerara Harbour Bridge, then the toll structure would have been different. However, the critics do not see this, and they continue to seek every opportunity to blame the Government.

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