WHILE WE support, in principle, the operation of the Old Harbour bypass as a private toll road, we wonder if the proposed $50 toll is not too high for a one-way trip. Perhaps the announcement is a balloon sent up to gauge public reaction, for Kingsley Thomas, chairman of the National Road Operating and Construction Company (NROCC), has gone out of his way to emphasise that the proposed figure is subject to review, so much so that Malaysia's consultants have been engaged to help the Government in its evaluation of the tariff.
Much is also being made of the National Works Agency being designated as the 'toll regulator' responsible for approving toll rates but this seems to overlap with the powers of the NROCC and both agencies would undercut the overall authority of the Minister of Transportation and Works to exercise ministerial responsibility for charges to the public which are a form of taxation.
In fact, the role of 'toll regulator' may be something of a smokescreen because details of the agreement signed with Bouygues Travaux indicate that whatever room for manoeuvre a 'toll regulator' may have, in theory, has been surrendered to binding contractual obligations, among them that toll charges are indexed to price movements in America and are pegged to the US dollar. Subject to clarification, this could mean that even after the initial toll rate has been agreed we could see fluctuating toll charges from month to month if the Jamaican dollar resumes its slide.
Private toll roads have a long history, dating back to 1792 in the U.S. Turnpikes, as they became known, reached their heyday in the early 19th century. Their surfaces were gravel and earth and cost about US$2,000 per mile to build. Despite widespread efforts to avoid paying the tolls, a practice known as 'shunpiking', the private operated roads stimulated commerce and raised land prices. In the second half of the 19th century, wooden planks replaced earth and gravel as the surface material for toll roads and this surface lasted about four years.
Jamaica will be watching closely to see how long the surface of the Old Harbour bypass avoids a pox of potholes and withstands the degree of rainfall usual for that area. We wish the project well but there should be an official statement setting out in detail the terms of the concession agreement and clarifying how the driving public will be protected in the setting of toll charges. Otherwise we may see a lot of 'shunpiking' in Jamaica.
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