…Gov’t wants BBCI to back down on toll hike proposals
…hopeful good sense will prevail

MINISTER of State Joseph Harmon said government is hopeful that the Berbice Bridge Company Inc. (BBCI) will allow good sense to prevail and halt its proposed plan to significantly increase the bridge tolls.

With the aim of meeting operational costs, the BBCI on Tuesday announced that from November 12, the new rates would be: Cars: G$8,040; Pickups: G$14,600; 4WD: G$14,600; Minibuses: G$8,040; Small trucks: G$14,600; Medium trucks: G$27,720; Large trucks: G$49,600; Articulated trucks: G$116,680; Freight: G$1,680 and Boats: G$401,040.

“We believe that better sense will prevail, since there is a legal requirement for there to be any fee increase by use of the bridge,” the minister of state told reporters during his weekly post-cabinet briefing on Friday at the Ministry of the Presidency.

Before announcing any increase, the BBCI is mandated by the Berbice River Bridge Act and the agreement it signed with the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to consult the minister with responsibility for the transport sector.

The company, however, breached both the Act and the concession agreement, by announcing increases without consultation with Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson.

Minister Harmon said Cabinet, while describing the increases as “unreasonable,” has given the minister of public infrastructure some “very clear guidance,” and has made it clear that it is not prepared to accept the increases.

Minister Patterson was advised to seek legal advice; that advice is being sought from Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams.

Williams, in a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, had explained that the unilateral announcement by BBCI is in breach of the concession agreement, which requires any announcement to be consensual; secondly, in breach of Section 4.1 subsection 2 of the Berbice River Bridge Act, which gives the company the authority to specify the toll increases after consultation with the minister,” he said.

According to the attorney general, the company must know that the power it has under Section 4.1 subsection 2 of the Act must be read, subject to Section 4.1 (d) (III), which empowers the minister to determine the maximum amount of tolls. “Only the minister could publish in the gazette, the tolls. That announcement that (BBCI) made is of no legal effect,” said Williams.

He stressed that other than the amount that has been approved and gazetted, no other increases can be accepted without the minister’s approval.

If the bridge company fails to cancel the increase, the government is prepared to take necessary action, the minister of state said.

“The cabinet also gave the minister some certain other options, which we are prepared to exercise in the event that the Berbice Bridge Company were to unilaterally and arbitrarily impose those increases,” Minister Harmon told reporters.

He noted that the increases will not only affect persons living in Berbice, but the entire country as well. “It is to note that it is not only the Berbice people are affected, because people from all parts of Guyana travel to Berbice, travel to Suriname and therefore, all of us are affected by these increases.” The main opposition political party in the country – the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)– has also rejected the increases, dubbing the move as unconscionable.