Linden businessman blasts Council for demanding tolls from vending trucks

Aug 25, 2014 News

Linden businessman and proprietor of the Demerara Bakery in Wismar, Steve Bovell has blasted the Linden Municipality, for allowing staff to drive around demanding tolls from vending trucks entering the mining Town.
Bovell told this newspaper that he was very perturbed after a truck from Namilco, which had travelled to Linden to deliver flour that he had bought from the company, was asked to pay a fee of $4,800.
“Now these truck drivers don’t walk with money on them- and after all, they were doing me a service: delivering the flour that I had bought. So it’s very unfair that Council staff would be demanding a fee from these people, because if the truck driver did not have the money, who do you think is expected to pay? Me, of course, and that is certainly not fair or encouraging to me as a Linden businessman.”
Bovell alluded to the disbanded Kara Kara toll booth which was deemed illegal by the Minister of Local Government.
“The toll booth was disbanded, therefore it means that they ought not to be collecting toll, so why are they driving around and harassing people for the toll; what they are doing is illegal!”
Recently, at a meeting at the Linden Municipality which was addressed by Minister of Local Government Norman Whittaker, calls were made for the Kara Kara Toll to be restored. Whittaker, however, exhorted the Council to extend its revenue base and “do those things that are right in the sight of the law.”
He said that the Kara Kara Toll “‘was illegal and therefore not a consideration at this point in time.”
The Minister had travelled to Linden and given written approval for Council to utililize funds from accounts other than the General Accounts, to pay employees their July salaries.
Linden IMC Chairman Orrin Gordon had indicated that in as much as the workers were happy that they could finally receive their salaries, for July, his concern is what happens to the rest of 2014.
“Yes the Minister came, and gave approval for the utilization of other funds to pay the salaries, but that is just for one month, what happens to the rest of the year?”
Gordon was adamant that part of the reason that the council is in its financially strapped state, is because of the disbanded Kara Kara toll booth.
“They said it was illegal, because it wasn’t gazetted, but whose fault was that, certainly not the Council’s!”
He told the media recently, that the Municipality is forced to increase the toll for various categories of vehicles crossing the Mackenzie/ Wismar Bridge, in order to raise much needed money to help pay the salaries of its workers.
The bridge fees, Gordon said, have not been increased since 1994. Cars and vehicles attached to Bosai Minerals Inc. are the only vehicles that would not be affected by the new increases, which shall be in effect from September 1.
With the new increases minibuses and pickup fees will move from $60 to $80; buses with more than fifteen seats will pay $120 instead of the current $100; tractors will move from $220 to $240; tractors with trailers from $400 to $500;vehicles with capacity of one to two tons will also pay $500, instead of the current $400; goods vehicles(2-3 tons) will pay $600, an increase of one hundred dollars, while those with a capacity of three to four tones, will pay $840,an increase of one hundred and forty dollars.
Heavy duty vehicles, which currently pay $1000, will attract an increase of two hundred dollars, with three axle trucks having to pay an increase of five hundred, or $2000.
The same applies to heavy earth moving equipment. Articulated trucks will be required to pay an increase of $1000, which will take the fee to $4000. Trucks attached to Bosai Minerals will continue to pay$1,200.
According to Gordon, the issue of cars and Bosai vehicles will be reviewed at the end of the year.
Gordon said that the 2014 budget submitted by the Council was not approved by the Minister of Local Government. That and the disbanding of the Kara Kara toll booth have put the municipality in ‘serious financial straits,” he maintains.
He also pointed out that at a recent meeting with the Minister, it was made clear that the Ministry of Local Government was not in favor of granting any subsidy to the Municipality, which had requested some $33M.
“This has put the Municipality in serious financial straits,” Gordon stated.
However, several attempts to contact Gordon concerning the issue of council staff allegedly demanding fees from vending truck drivers to operate in the Town, proved futile.

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Linden businessman blasts Council for demanding tolls from vending trucks

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