Govt. willingly defends Exxon’s contract but ignores Berbice Bridge -Chris Ram says that toll issue will come back to haunt us

Jul 22, 2018 News

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Accountant, Christopher Ram, is warning Government to rethink its stance on the Berbice River Bridge.

The bridge recently appealed for permission to increase it tolls, claiming that it has been running at a loss.
Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, who has responsibilities for transportation and roads, said that Government will not countenance any toll increase.
However, the bridge company, which is chaired by Dr. Surendra Persaud, had insisted that the Concession Agreement that exists between Government and company allows for periodic increases.
Persaud is also Chairman of the National Insurance Scheme.
The bridge company has been insisting that it is a private one. This forced Government step in and lower rates by introducing a subsidy system about two years ago.
Recently, the Board again appealed for an increase.
Over the weekend, Ram, an outspoken activist, via his blog www.chrisram.net, said that the outcome of not addressing the looming crisis can lead to problems down the road.
“I sincerely hope that the Government will understand the iniquity and urgency of this situation and move quickly to address it. If the Government persists with this inaction, it may very well find that when it inherits the bridge in another few years, the bridge will be in such a state of disrepair that it may regret its shortsighted action.”

The bridge was built during the last term of Bharrat Jagdeo and commissioned in 2009 using a public/private partnership model.
However, the project, considered a boon to Berbicians, became a scandal after it was disclosed that a few companies, including Queens Atlantic Investment Inc., a company close to Jagdeo, had taken control of the bridge, installing a few of their directors.
It was disclosed earlier this year that the bridge, since its commissioning, did very little to maintain the pontoons, which keeps the structure afloat.
According to Ram, he has taken note of statements by Patterson that the Government is not contemplating any increases to the Berbice Bridge tolls.
“Minister Patterson seems to believe that it is that simple and simplistic. He must not only be familiar with the Provisions of the Berbice River Bridge Act but also the Concession Agreement dated June 26, 2006 under which the bridge operates, and over which he exercises ministerial responsibility and has certain obligations to the Bridge Company and its investors.”
Ram, a lawyer also, explained that the Concession Agreement was made under the laws of Guyana and obligates the Minister and the Government to grant periodic increases to tolls based on specific indications and circumstances as computed under Schedule 4 to the Concession Agreement.
“The Bridge is a public/private partnership in which the Government made a contribution of land and access roads and the private sector provided the capital funding and the management of the Bridge with financing and operating costs being met out of user tolls.
“From very early, questions were raised about assumptions on traffic flows and the expectation that the investors would have fully recovered their investments and returns by the time the concession period ends in 2026 and the Bridge is handed over free of cost to the Government.”
Ram wrote that in the early years, instead of allowing toll increases, when the bridge was unable to meet certain obligations, the PPP/C Government waived certain sums receivable by NICIL as holder of $950 million worth of preference shares.
Roosting Chickens

“Fortunately for the then administration, the installments of several tranches did not become due until later but the chickens have now come home to roost and that reality now confronts the bridge company and the current administration.”
Ram believes that the situation has moved from bad to worse, from difficult to dire and in the case of just one investor, the decision by the Minister can seriously jeopardise its financial stability.
“That single investor has a total investment in the bridge company in the form of ordinary and preferred shares and loans of $2,367 million. Additionally, the company owes that investor unpaid preference dividends, unpaid interest and unpaid bonds in the sum of $938.3 million, making a total of $3,305.3 million.”
Ram said that while there are other domestic investors who are also owed significant sums, there is something particularly important about this investor: it is the National Insurance Scheme.
NIS belongs
“The funds of the scheme really belong to the workers of the country and the eventual loss of such magnitude will make the tenuous situation of the scheme disastrous. Mr. Patterson and his colleagues in the Government must therefore consider whether they desire such an outcome.”
Commendably, Ram said, the Government does not wish to impose further hardship on Berbicians with the estates closure and a slowing economy already hurting many communities. “But a government’s functions include not only its social obligations but its duty to comply with the laws – the very essence of the rule of law, the foundation of our constitution.”

Ram said that over the years, he has written extensively and frequently on the economics of the bridge and the tolls charged to its users and has made a number of recommendations.
“Among these was a recommendation that the Government buys out the investors and takes over the bridge which serves a public function. By strangling the company and its investors, the Government is not only depriving them of their rights under the law and the Concession Agreement but is bullying them to provide at significant losses, a public good and service which is the duty of any state.”
He said that it does not escape the notice of many Guyanese how willingly the Government is prepared to defend vigorously the highly flawed Petroleum Agreement with Esso on the basis of sanctity of contract (what is sacred about a flawed and immoral contract?) but is prepared to disregard and consciously ignore the laws of Guyana in respect of domestic investors.
“Seems a clear case of servility to foreign investors but contempt for domestic investors,” he wrote.
The bridge was estimated to cost about US$40M.
To help the bridge, the previous government had halted the operations of the ferries that plied the Berbice River, forcing the use of the facility.
As part of the subsidy arrangement to lower tolls about two years ago, the administration had introduced river taxis to cater for students and senior citizens.

 

 

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