The PPP’s position on this toll is flawed and must be rejected in its entirety

May 20, 2014 Letters

---

DEAR EDITOR,
In 2009, the joint Chambers of Commerce in Berbice met representative members of the Berbice Bridge Company, namely Mr. Cheong and Mr. Carter, to discuss the toll charges.  The Berbice businessmen left that meeting stating that they were, “optimistic from the conversation that there would be adjustments to the current toll structure”.   They have now received their answer from the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Robeson Benn – “I will not reduce the toll for any reason…”
Road/bridge transport has been the dominant form of transport in Guyana and thus offers great opportunity for cross subsidization.  This toll definitely needs not be at these extortionate levels. But to find the right level of toll charges, there must be an awareness of the plight of the poor and the working class.  This remains the core issue.
Since 2009, the Ramotar administration, which controls more than 70 percent of the assets of this bridge along with a golden share, has refused to conduct the “Options Analysis” to ascertain the economic feasibility of reducing this toll.  It has chosen instead to take the slothful path and issue silly statements in spite of the miseries of the travelling poor who have to cross that Bridge, be they school children, teachers, nurses or public servants.  This is reason enough for the commencement of a different form of struggle against this anti-human, anti-national and anti-patriotic behaviour by this PPP regime.
I call on the AFC and APNU, especially all those Parliamentarians with roots in Berbice, to use this act of oppression from the PPP, as provocation enough to start a peaceful and non-violent public protest once a week, on Cabinet day. I humbly suggest Vlissengen Road in front of the mecca of oppression, until the demands of the people are met.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”.  Power was given to APNU and the AFC some 2 ½ years ago as a collective, but what have they really done with that power?  Name one concession they have gotten for the people from the oppressive PPP?
Their majority rule has been rendered into an epic of ineffective outcomes, by the minority regime. This Berbice Bridge toll issue is just the latest addition to that list of proposals for the benefit of the people, all undermined by the PPP.
The people are not stupid; overwhelmingly the majority supports a reduction of this toll, save and except for a handful in the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal and their bootlickers.  For his remarkable act in piloting this bill, Mr. Joseph Harmon must be applauded for holding the line in very turbulent waters with much resistance from vested interest in the private sector who have milked hundreds of millions in profits off of the sweat of the traveling poor. History will always remember Mr. Harmon and I raise my hat to him.  Mr. Harmon, you have done your part; let us see what the rest of the MPs on the west side will do going forward?
OPTIONS
No one is asking the Berbice Bridge Company to take a loss, after all in 2011 they made a profit of some $216 million and I was reliably informed that they made a profit of some $252 million in 2012 from a revenue stream of some $1.3 billion.  The 2013 number remains a state secret but the profits were good enough to grant free crossing during the PPP 30th Congress in August 2013.
Prior to the bridge, the unsatisfied demand for this service (crossing the river more efficiently) was tremendous as a result of a broken ferry system.  Therefore, out of desperation, people did say they would pay anything.  But the volume of traffic today has surpassed all benchmarks in the feasibility study at conception.  In business when volume increases, unit price goes down, but not for the greedy owners and their political masters.
In an environment where approximately 666,000 vehicles traversed the bridge in 2013, Mr. Harmon’s proposal is expected to produce a loss of revenue of some $365 million for the Bridge. With a subsidy from Treasury of some $300 million every year, the company with $252 million profit can easily eat the residual $65 million.  This is very possible for people and country.
After all, the State subsidized the operations of the Demerara Harbour Bridge in 2013 by some $300 million.
But the PPP has calculated that it can push the boundaries of rationality because it has its racial cast net to haul-in the Berbicians at election time.  But it is so wrong since that cast net has many holes today.
In an environment of social media and TV; the absence of judicious, fair and transparent governance will be punished severely.  We only have to reflect on how Mr. Modi in India broke down the “caste silos” as the people rebelled against the misrule of the Gandhi dynasty.  In Guyana, with an ever-youthful population, and with so much economic oppression, the “racial silos” have started to break down.
No amount of propaganda on NCN can erase Mr. Benn’s pronouncements.  Unless the PPP adheres to the instructions of Parliament with respect to this bridge, the poor and the working class in Berbice will be very unkind to the party at the ballot box.
In the final analysis, the PPP’s position on this toll is flawed and must be rejected in its entirety.  The tolls must come down; over to you Mr. Granger!
Sase Singh

---

---