By Jeff Trotman
Chief Executive Officer of the Linmine Secretariat, Horace James, is happy that control of the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge is being returned to the Linden Municipality.
He, however, wants the bridge workers to continue enjoying good or better working conditions, bearing in mind the proposed 10% rate hike for public servants and statutory workers. He is also calling for the establishment of a rehabilitation fund for effective short-term repairs and long- term maintenance of the bridge.
He said the biggest issue he has with the new direction is finding an acceptable monthly operating expenditure for the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge since under the old system there was a consistent budget of $3M per month, which was hardly ever reached. He added that every ten years, the bridge needs major repairs, amounting to over $200M. Therefore, enough money must be placed in the maintenance fund.
In a presentation to members of the Linden IMC and departmental heads of the town council on Wednesday, 24th June, James explained that the Linmine Secretariat is a department of NICIL and after the privatization of Linmine, the bridge and other assets such as the Watooka Club that were not transferred to BOSAI became vested in NICIL. He said although there was a bridge committee that met once per month, the major decisions concerning the bridge were made by the Minister of Finance under the PPP/C administration.
The Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge issue was raised during the June statutory meeting of the Linden Town Council by IMC Vice Chairman, Eric Harry, who informed the council that he found it strange that James had invited him to a meeting of the Bridge Committee with bridge workers to discuss matters relating to the workers. He then called on the IMC Chairman, Orrin Gordon, to update the council on the bridge.
Gordon said he had raised the bridge matter at a meeting with the new Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, whom he thought would have followed his predecessor in becoming chairman of NICIL but Jordan had said that he has no interest in being part of NICIL. Gordon said that he also informed the Minister that under the law, the revenue collected from the bridge toll should go into the coffers of the Linden Town Council, but, instead, it goes into a NICIL account and not an account of the Linmine Secretariat.
Gordon said all the money is taken out of that NICIL account and he told the Finance Minister that $4M disappeared from the account for the month of April. He said the Finance Minister said principals at NICIL should inform the Linmine Secretariat and the town council when they are taking out lump sum money from the account. He said the Minister further advised him to invite the Linmine Secretariat and NICIL to a meeting to make arrangements for the future management of the bridge and its revenue. He said that he and James subsequently met and he informed James that the Council had decided, based on the Finance Minister’s suggestion, that NICIL should not have any hand in the management of the bridge. He said that he had invited James to make a presentation to the council and he asked that the standing orders be suspended to allow him to do so.
James said he and Gordon had agreed that the net cash flow would be divided as follows: 60% for the town council; 20% for the Linmine Secretariat; and 20% for major rehabilitation and capital works. He said although, he would like the council to consider accepting 50% of the revenue instead of 60%, he approved of the change, firstly because it is in keeping with the law and secondly, putting 20% of the revenue into a maintenance fund is commendable and absolutely necessary.
He repeated financial figures for the bridge for 2013, 2014 and January to May 2015 and reminded the councillors that the rate of toll for various types of vehicles was increased from October 2014. He said the Linmine Secretariat and the Linden IMC had agreed that 30% of the increased revenue will be put into a maintenance fund.
