The Berbice Bridge Company Inc (BBCI) has submitted a proposal to government on the proposed reduction in tolls and has indicated its willingness to accept a government subsidy for the lower tolls.
National Insurance Scheme (NIS) representative on the BBCI’s Board of Directors Dr Surendra Persaud told reporters yesterday at the commissioning of a $177M jack-up barge at BBCI headquarters in Berbice that the proposal was submitted a few days ago.
Junior Minister of Public Infrastructure Annette Ferguson acknowledged that they have received a new proposal and said it is currently being reviewed by members of the cabinet. “Indeed, the BBCI has submitted a proposal to government indicating that they are willing to accept the subvention. However, the proposal was submitted a few days ago to the cabinet (and) is currently being reviewed,” Ferguson said.
Pressed further as to what the new proposal contains, Ferguson said that she cannot comment in-depth on it but indicated that it is based on terms of negotiation and several suggestions.
Meanwhile, Persaud explained that in the proposal, several suggestions on multiple aspects of the bridge and its subvention, were made. He said that the proposal was only made a few days ago and to expect an answer from government by now would be unfair as they did not give them enough time to respond.
However, Ferguson said hopefully at the end of the week, an announcement can be made. No further information was provided on the proposal to the government from the bridge company.
On August 10, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan had announced that from September 1st, the toll for passenger cars and buses crossing the Berbice River Bridge would be reduced by $300, from $2,200 to $1,900, while the toll for all other types of vehicles will be reduced by 10 percent. The reduction was intended to fulfil an elections campaign promise made by the APNU+AFC coalition.
However, this has not occurred and up to when the proposal was submitted, government and the BBCI were deadlocked on the matter.
While the government had proposed a subsidy to cover the loss to the company from lower tolls, BBCI argued that its financial plight requires a longer-term agreement which would enable a refinancing of its debt with creditors.
As a result, BBCI requested an extension in the concession period from 21 years to 50 years, or for the government to consider an application for a toll increase made to the PPP/C government on March 15th, 2015. The APNU+AFC government has refused to agree to either request.
Up to the end of last year, the BBCI says, it had racked up accumulated losses of $1.5 billion and is under threat of insolvency unless it can restructure its financing. $36 million has been allocated in the 2015 budget as a subsidy for the bridge company for the remainder of the year and Jordan had said that between $120M and $140M annually would be required to allow for a phased reduction of tolls.
