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LEVY ON THE BRIDGE!

Sep 02, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

There is another side to the problem involving the Berbice River Bridge Inc. It is good, sometimes, to look at the other side of an issue.
The government promised to reduce the Berbice River Bridge tolls. It did not promise the Guyanese people to subsidize the tolls. It promised to have the tolls reduced and this is completely different from actually compensating the Bridge Company for the difference between what would normally have been charged and the new rates. This is not reduction. It is subsidization.
The reason why the government was unable to slash the tolls on the Bridge was because of the financial model of the Company. Those that put less money into the Bridge than the government did have a controlling interest. In other words, public funds were used to float the company and give controlling interest to those who put less money than the government.
Because of this the government has no control over what happens in the Bridge Company. It is not going to be able to exert any influence because by now it should be clear that the agreement which the government presumed that it had with the Bridge Company is not likely to see the light of day.
The attention of the government is being misdirected. The attention is being focused on who is reneging on agreements. Both sides are making contentions. Instead of concentrating on the September 1 expectations, the better approach should have been about having the flawed financial model overturned.
The Bridge Company stockholding cannot be altered in the Boardroom, not even by the pressures which the PNC is known to be capable of applying. This is a different time.  APNU and AFC may not have listened or  have been responsive to the demands of the private sector when in opposition. They certainly did not budge when the private sector called for approval of the Anti- Money Laundering and Countering of Financing of Terrorism Bill.
It is now time for the private sector to show who can call the shots. The Bridge Company is not going to simply roll over to the demands of the government. If the government felt this they were mistaken. They will now taste the power of Big Business. They will not understand the financial grip that the business community has on this country.
This is not to underestimate the importance of public sector spending in the economy. It is the opposite, to appreciate the strength of the local private sector, a strength which was developed under the PPP and to understand that the private sector may be accommodating but they are not going to be at the beck and call of the present government.
A showdown is in the making. The government will make a big blunder. They will antagonize the private sector. This plays right into the hands of the private sector who would have felt miffed that the government did not respond favorably to their concerns about the withdrawal of funds from the banking sector in order to reduce the Budget deficit.
The government should not fall into that trap. Instead it should either buyout the Bridge or recall its loans and bonds in the Bridge. This allows it to levy on the assets of the Bridge and gain legal possession especially since dividends are not being received by the government.
This is what the government has to do to overturn this obscene financial model, after which the Marriott was also patterned, to be allowed to frustrate the right of Guyanese to affordable travel.

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