Berbicians seek 50% reduction in bridge toll

Apr 11, 2022 News

— Corentyne Chamber wants Govt. to take over ownership of Berbice Bridge Company Inc.

Kaieteur News – The Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce (CCCC) has called on the Government to negotiate a takeover of the Berbice Bridge Company Inc. (BBCI) to ease the burden they face accessing the facility.
For years, citizens have decried the high toll being charged by the bridge. The chamber recently dispatched a letter to President Irfaan Ali, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall and Senior Minister responsible for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh requesting that the government negotiates with the Bridge Company owners for “100% ownership” and the reduction of fairs by at least 50%.
The chamber is being led by Mohamed Raffik. Speaking to Kaieteur News Raffik said in the letter it was proposed that the government look at the option of purchasing the shares of the owners of the Berbice River Bridge. “…we are asking the government to negotiate with the owners of the bridge and to see if the government can come up with an agreement with them so that the government can be the new owners of the bridge.”
The letter highlighted that when the Coalition Government assumed office in 2015, the toll was reduced from $2200 to $1900 for a regular vehicle to cross the bridge and the said coalition had pledged to “to take annual measures” to have the tolls further reduced, however it never materialised, and the toll remained at $1900.
In 2019, the previous government had signalled intentions to have discussion with BBCI to buyout the ownership of the bridge and BBCI had issued a statement indicating that if the government is willing to make a reasonable offer for

From left:- PRO for CCCC Attorney, Adrian Anamayah; Vice President ,Imran Hamid; President, Mohamed Raffik and Secretary, Katherine Prasad.

the purchase, “we are ready to meet at your earliest convenience to consider governments offer.” However, it never materialised.
Raffik said that because of the structure that exists presently, the owners of the bridge cannot reduce the tolls to what they would prefer it to be and with the current inflation around the world, Guyana is also feeling the squeeze. To this end, he posited that having the bridge toll/fair reduced by at least 50%, it will be significant for Berbicans since it will assist in the transporting of goods and services to Berbice and out of the county at a reduced cost.
Added to that, the chamber is of the opinion that it will also see more persons coming to Berbice regularly, whether it is for business or pleasure. He added that since dispatching the letter just over a week ago, they have since garnered a response from the Minister of Public Works and as such, are expected to meet shortly.
“…so we are gonna meet with him and we are gonna discuss what exactly we have in mind and how we can move this process forward. That is one of the main pillars that we are working on for this term for our chamber, and this is something we would like to see happen and we are very encouraged by the quick response we got from the minister, and we should meet with him shortly and we are now finalizing our team to meet with him. We hope to do that this week”, he said.
Tourism and influx of people
To further support the call for the bridge tolls to be reduced, Raffik mentioned that following a meeting with the Minister of Tourism Hon. Oneidge Waldron, several things were discussed to enhance the tourism industry in the region. One of those things was the enhancement of the No.63 beach and with the resuscitation of the beach committee to take shape shortly, the beach will see better management. Already, there has been a proposal from an overseas based Guyanese to develop the location and along with that, the First Lady Arya Ali late last year had also committed to having a space dedicated for parking, vending, toilet facilities etc.
According to Raffik, “at the end of the day if we can have a reduced fair in the Berbice Bridge, we can encourage more people to come to Berbice. We need not only people who live in region six to go to the beach, but we need people from other areas to come and visit Berbice and this is something we are looking to see how we can help out with.”
Raffik also mentioned that the chamber is working assiduously towards having the extremely popular Berbice Exposition and Trade Fair back in action.
This he said, they are hoping to kick off in the second week of October 2022. Following the pandemic, the Chamber did not organise a Berbice expo in two years, but with the announcement of President Irfaan Ali that the COVID restrictions have been lifted, considerations to have the expo back on board have been actively pursued.