By Vanessa Braithwaite

VEHICLES transporting items for businesses registered in Linden will be subjected to a reduced toll fee, which would be paid every six months when the Kara Kara toll booth becomes operational.Most councillors voted in favour of this move at a recently held extraordinary meeting of the Linden Mayor and Town Council (LM&TC). The exact value of this payment has not yet been decided upon, as the Council is still deliberating on the best way to operate the toll booth.

Though it may belong to a Lindener, any vehicle not operating or registered in Linden but is carrying items for commercial use will be subjected to paying toll upon leaving the town on every occasion. Among those vehicles are lumber trucks, machine haulers, container trucks; canters selling beverages, fish, fruits and vegetables or dry goods etc.

However, this stipulation will not apply to vehicles entering Linden for recreational and domestic use, as well as to hire cars.

These and other factors of interest were discussed by the LMTC, and though a final decision has not yet been made, Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland will be presenting the decisions as well as claims and objections of residents and corporate citizens to the Chief Counsel in Georgetown.

The LM&TC would also be engaging the Linden Chamber of Industry, Commerce and Development and corporate citizens before making a pronouncement in regard to tolls.

Though a pronouncement has not been made on the toll applicable to each category of vehicle, Mayor Holland, as well as the Linden Chamber of Commerce, did agree that the previous prices governing the operations were obsolete and would be amended to suit the present economy.

Some councillors are not optimistic that the operations of the toll booth would be permanent; they hope that history would not be repeating itself. This is because the highway on which the toll booth is located may not be gazetted to Council, hence operating the toll booth may not be legal.

Town Clerk Janella Bowen revealed that the booth was previously closed not because of its location, but because the by-laws had not been gazetted.

The Kara Kara toll booth came into being in 1997, but its operation was stopped in 2013 by former Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker. The purpose of the booth is to garner funds from heavy-duty trucks transporting lumber and other cargo to and from the interior. According to reports, the booth was disbanded to accommodate the operations of giant lumber company Bi Shan Lin. As a result of this subsidised operation, the Council lost $250M, according to former IMC Chairman Orin Gordon.

Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, played a role in getting the booth back in operation. He had contended that its closure by the previous administration was an intentional act to stymie progress in Linden.