–in passage of Motion to reduce Berbice Bridge toll

THE Motion passed by the Parliamentary Opposition on Thursday, demanding a reduction in the Berbice River Bridge tolls is populist politicking and irresponsible, according to President Donald Ramotar. 

In an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA) yesterday, the President said that members of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which piloted the Motion, were very much present in the National Assembly when the Act governing the bridge’s operations and construction was tabled and passed.
“They know that the government is constrained from doing anything in relation to the toll of crossing the bridge, largely because the Act itself says that any changes in the toll have to come from the Board of Directors of the bridge, making a request to the minister,” the President said, adding that to date, “no such suggestion has come.”
Noting that since the bridge has been in operation, there has been a significant increase in traffic between the Ancient County and Demerara, President Ramotar said:
“… it used to take between three and six hours to cross the Berbice River with the ferry; now it takes about three minutes to drive over. Obviously, it’s much more efficient; there’s no hassle.”
Equating the opposition’s call to an attempt at nationalisation, the President said that seeing that the bridge is owned and operated by Guyanese, “we therefore have to be careful how we handle the situation; the mobilisation of funds to build the bridge was totally a local effort.”
As one of the more successful private-public partnership arrangements, President Ramotar said of the the opposition’s attempt to put a proverbial spoke in the bridge’s wheel: “The opposition obviously are playing very cheap politics; acting extremely irresponsibly with the suggestion they have made.”
He reiterated that the fare structure, which has not increased since the bridge’s opening in 2005, is the same as that which obtained with the previously used ferry service. (GINA)