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No plans to reduce toll on Berbice Bridge this year – Transport Minister
The Berbice River Bridge
There are no plans to reduce the tolls for the Berbice River Bridge this year, Government has said.
Responding to questions posed Thursday in the National Assembly, Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, said that affected school children have the options to use a ferry service that Government operates between Rosignol and New Amsterdam.
Benn was at the time responding to questions by Member of Parliament, Jennifer Wade, who wanted to know if there are plans to reduce the tolls.
According to Wade, it costs one student $800 daily to cross the bridge.
The Minister, in his written response, said that the bridge company charges toll for the different classes of vehicles and not for passengers.
“At present the fare to cross the bridge is $2,200 for minibuses and cars,” Benn said.
Government at present has no plans to reduce the toll for 2013.
“However, Transport and Harbours Department of the Ministry of Public Works operates a ferry service across the Berbice River between Rosignol and New Amsterdam. The fare for school children using the ferry is $60 per return trip if they pay daily or $200 monthly if they purchase a contract.”
The bridge has been a long-awaited project by the government and after years in the making, opened to traffic in December 2008.
It is a public/private partnership with investors including the New Building Society, National Insurance Scheme and Demerara Distillers Limited, among others.
The bridge management has never officially released how well it is doing.
Government, as a shareholder, reportedly has not collected its annual dividends for at least one year. The then President Bharrat Jagdeo had said that this was to keep the toll charges low.
An estimated 160,000 vehicles traversed the Berbice Bridge between December 24, 2008 and July 2009, according to preliminary figures that had been released by the bridge authorities.
Cars (sedan-sized) had accounted for almost 55 per cent of the traffic while about 40,000 minibus crossings were made during the same period.
Almost US$40M was spent to construct the linkage.
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