Berbice Bridge toll reduction is not for the poor

Berbice Bridge toll reduction is not for the poor — APNU

Dec 15, 2013 News

“If you want to show that you really want to benefit the poor people then the reduction in the toll must be for the greatest category of vehicles that traverse the bridge,”— Harmon

The Berbice Bridge Company Inc has announced a reduction of its tolls, but it did not address the poor man who represents the bulk of the people traversing the facility.
This is according to A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU), Joseph Harmon, who in an invited comment yesterday, said that while he is happy to see that the company has started to respond to the needs of the people for a reduction in the toll, “I am disappointed that they have not chosen to reduce that category of vehicles which the poor man uses to traverse the

APNU Joseph Harmon

bridge.”
According to Harmon the announcement by the Berbice Bridge Company Inc is more of an “anti poor measure.”
He said that it is the minibuses, cars and motorcycles that the poor man uses to traverse the bridge, but the bridge company did not address the tolls for these categories of vehicles.
The bridge company in announcing the reduction of tolls said that the categories to benefit from the reduction are 4 Wheel Drive SUVs/Pickups, Pickups pulling trailers with boats, jet skies for recreational purposes, Pickups and SUVs pulling horse bogies, 50 and 30-seat minibuses and large trucks.
According to Harmon, “This is an attempt to give rich people a further benefit at the expense of the poor man.”
He said that the general thrust of the motion he intends to lay in Parliament, is to assist the poor people.
“If the Berbice Bridge Company wants to make an impact and show that it is generous let the administration reduce those categories, minibus, cars and motorcycles.
He argued, “If you want to show that you really want to benefit the people then the reduction in the toll must be for the greatest category of vehicles used to traverse the bridge.”
The decision by the Berbice Bridge to reduce the toll for certain categories of vehicles comes in the wake of the political opposition putting pressure on the government.
Harmon is set to advance a motion in the National Assembly for the reduction of the Berbice Bridge toll for all the vehicles.
Harmon is requesting that the National Assembly call on the government to instruct its representative on the Board of Directors of the Berbice Bridge Company Inc. to demand an immediate reduction in tolls charged for crossing the Berbice River.
Harmon’s position is that a reduction in the Bridge toll is necessary since many Berbicians and commuters are complaining about the high costs required to travel across the bridge.
His reasoning behind the reduction was that; if the BBCI could reduce the toll by half for vehicles during the “holiday season” last August (which he felt was really done to facilitate PPP/C congress that was held in Berbice) then it could be done across the board.
Harmon Further articulated that the motion is to address the question of devolution of wealth from the populace into the hands of a few.
The money actually belonged to Guyanese people because the shares for the company belong to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the National Industrial Commercial and Investment Limited (NICIL), he said.
According to Harmon, since its commissioning in December 2008, the Berbice Bridge has facilitated the crossing of over 650,000 vehicles, resulting in annual revenue of over $1.5B.
He said that the Berbice Bridge was built with significant investment by the Government of Guyana, “on behalf of the People of Guyana.”