The opposition is willing to support government with any solution that will see a reduction in the Berbice Bridge toll, but it must be fair to all parties involved, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said yesterday, while adding that there was money in “private accounts” which could be used to offer a larger subsidy to the bridge company.
“I think they need to sit down and talk and find a solution… they can fulfil their electoral promise and we will support anything that brings down the fare for the Berbice Bridge, any solution that they come up with in the Parliament that treats everyone fairly,” he said in response to a question posed during a press conference at Freedom House yesterday.
Jagdeo said he had met members of the business community on Wednesday night and the bridge was among the issues raised. He said many were urging the opposition to get involved in the ongoing row to have the fares reduced.
Pointing out that government had proposed a $300 reduction, as opposed to the $1,000 it had promised on the campaign trail, he expressed the view that in addition to the subsidy provided in the budget, the government could have done more with regard to the reduction of the tolls.
The 2015 budget allocated $36 million for a bridge subsidy from September to the end of the year.
“If their priority was the crossing and fulfilling their promise, they could have put much more because they had room. It is not a bankrupt country,” he said.
Jagdeo claimed that there is still $30 billion in “private accounts” which the government can transfer at any time and should have transferred based on its election promise. “They can use, I think, if they want to negotiate a settlement and take back the bridge… there are resources there,” he stressed.
In his budget speech on August 10th, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan had announced that from September 1, the toll for passenger cars and buses crossing the Berbice River Bridge will be reduced by $300, from $2,200 to $1,900, while the toll for all other types of vehicles will be reduced by 10 per cent. He had said that the toll decrease would be the first of a phased reduction.
There have since been ongoing talks between government and officials of the Berbice Bridge Company Inc (BBCI) but these are currently at a deadlock. The government has since introduced a water taxi service, giving people the option to either use this or vehicles travelling across the bridge.
Earlier this month, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson told the media that a government buyout of the Berbice Bridge Company Inc (BBCI) is not economically feasible and the government’s proposed annual subsidy is the best option to reduce tolls for travellers.
BBCI has so far resisted the government’s offer of the subsidy on present tolls and instead wants either a 55% increase in tolls or an extension of the concession period from 21 to 50 years. Up to the end of last year, the BBCI says it racked up accumulated losses of $1.5 billion and is under threat of insolvency unless it can restructure its financing.
Reduction of the Berbice Bridge tolls had been one of the campaign promises made by the APNU+AFC coalition prior to the May 11 general elections.
