By Lavern Clarke, Staff Reporter
JAMAICAN MOTORISTS will pay $40 to travel one way on the first completed section of Highway 2000 at the kick-off of the virgin toll regime now set to be implemented in early July, TransJamaican Highway Limited has decided.
But the French firm is yet to make an official application for the toll, and still has to justify the cost to the National Works Agency whose chief executive has been designated the toll regulator under law.
"There is no formal application," said Dr. Wayne Reid, head of the National Road Operating and Constructing Company, which has administrative responsibility for the Highway 2000 project and oversight of the toll regime.
The road fee will first be charged on the dualised Old Harbour Bypass which runs for some 14 kilometres from Bushy Park to Sandy Bay in St. Catherine on which construction is set for completion by the end of June.
The $40 fee refers to the charge to be levied on standard vehicles only. Trucks measuring under 5.5 metres long will pay double the figure, and larger trucks will pay triple.
But, as other sections of the phase one highway are built, TransJamaican says it plans to increase the toll to $120 to be levied on the 34-km stretch from Kingston to Sandy Bay.
The concessionaire estimates average daily travel (ADT) on the two-lane Old Harbour Bypass at 13,000 vehicles, but does not expect that it will necessarily earn revenue from them all, at least not initially.
"We expect some diversions as we impose the toll," said Pascal Radde, managing director of the French owned firm. In addition, some categories of users, such as emergency vehicles, will be exempt from the toll. The Portmore Causeway is now the most heavily trafficked section of the road at an estimated 37,000 ADT as at last year, representing an 85 per cent growth when compared to the 20,000 vehicles counted two years prior by consultants Dessau-Soprin.
TransJamaican projects that traffic using the highway, will grow by four per cent per year, by comparison.
A single toll plaza is being constructed on the bypass to start off collections, but as the road development progresses, a total of three toll barriers will be in place by 2005, up to which point Radde said TransJamaican anticipates earnings of US$27 million, or J$1.4 billion at current exchange rates. Opposition Leader Edward Seaga had said in Parliament two weeks ago that his support for Highway 2000 was based on projections that the development would pull in US$17m (approx. J$870m) per year.
Radde says the initial projected return on investment was 25 per cent, but notes that the figure might be adjusted as the toll operations get underway.
Motorists will have the option of paying cash or using pre-paid toll cards to be issued by Jamaica Infrastructure Operator, a new company formed to collect the tolls and man the maintenance centres.
The company is within the local network established by the French as part of their management system for the highway.
TransJamaican which was set up to oversee the concession and finances, is a spin-off company of Bouygues Travaux Publics, while Bouygues retains the role of developer/contractor on the road project.
Additionally, Bouygues which will build and own the road for 35 years, has partnered with Autoroutes du Sud de la France on a deal that gives Autoroutes 34 per cent equity ownership of the highway, while Bouygues retains 66 per cent. The concession agreement requires the company to retain no less than a 51 per cent stake. JIO is owned jointly by Bouygues (49 per cent) and Autoroutes (51 per cent), says Radde.
