Peter Espeut AS SOMEONE who lives and works in Clarendon, and has to travel to Kingston often, I am happy for the Old Harbour bypass; driving through Old Harbour in any direction was too painful (except late at night), and the detour around the market and the pedestrians is most welcome. It was in the planning for several decades; Old Harbour is almost the last major town in Jamaica to get a bypass road.
But it will be short-lived. Sometime next month the bypass will be no more when it will become a Toll Road to be integrated into Highway 2000, that great millenarian road works project. I'm sure that like me, many Jamaicans feel quite a bit let down, for in the decades up to the start of construction by the Kuwatis, no mention was made of charging a toll.
PITCHY-PATCHY
Just as I was impressed with the smoothness of the Kuwati road, so am I disappointed by the French equivalent. Why is the road surface in the new lanes so uneven. And so pitchy-patchy? As you drive along you can feel your car dipping and rising as you move across the asphalt mosaic of seams and patches which are plainly visible, on what is supposed to be a brand new first-time-laid-down road surface. I must say that I am disappointed with what appears to be poor quality work. It is not a good omen!
I must confess that I am completely puzzled by the design of the toll arrangements, but then I am no highway engineer. I had expected to see at least two toll collection areas built - one at each end of the highway - and then one at each side entrance and exit, based on what I have seen elsewhere in the world. When a toll road has no exits, you pay as you enter and then there is no need for a booth at the other end; when there are exits, usually you collect a punched ticket as you enter, and as you exit you pay an amount depending on the distance you have travelled.
ENCOUNTER
This Toll Highway runs between Bushy Park in St. Catherine to Sandy Bay in Clarendon, with two intermediate points of entry and exit (at Old Harbour and Freetown). I can see only one Toll Plaza - closer to the Bushy Park end - so motorists travelling in either direction will encounter only one pay-point, and will be asked to pay a flat toll of $50 no matter where you enter or exit.
Suppose I travel from my home to a meeting with fishers at Welcome Beach (Clarendon) or Old Harbour Bay (St. Catherine), and I enter the Toll Road at Sandy Bay and exit either at Freetown (for Welcome) or Old Harbour (to go to the Bay) long before I get to the Toll Plaza: where do I pay my toll?
Indeed, suppose I am coming from Kingston: what would stop me from driving on the old road to Old Harbour and then joining the highway for the rest of the journey, thereby avoiding the Toll Plaza altogether? Having entrances and exits with no toll booths is an incentive to avoid paying the toll - and a perfectly legal one! Maybe there is something I don't understand.
When the first phase Kingston/Williamsfield is completed, where will we pay? If the answer is that new toll plazas will be built closer to the ends, then what will be the use of this expensive six-lane toll plaza in the middle of the journey? Will it have to be demolished? What a waste of good money if that is the plan! A better location for the toll plaza would have been on or before the ramp to enter the highway, so as not to block the flow of traffic coming through from Kingston. At least here it is not taxpayers' money being wasted.
The toll arrangement is not my only puzzlement. Not yet two years old is the lovely flyover bridge at the Bushy Park entrance to the bypass which the Jamaican government borrowed tens of millions of dollars (from Kuwait) to construct, which we are still repaying. Judging by the alignment of the highway extension towards Kingston, that beautiful (and expensive) flyover bridge will have to be demolished! Now is this a waste of taxpayers' money or what?
ARRANGEMENTS
At the time Highway 2000 was announced that bridge had not yet been built, although it may have been the subject of contractual arrangements. Once the decision for Highway 2000 had been made, could not the bypass have been re-designed and the contract re-negotiated, to avoid demolishing a perfectly good new bridge wasting good money? Shame!
As I have said in previous columns, I doubt the financial viability of a toll road in Jamaica. I don't believe that enough people will pay to use them to make them profitable. I assume that government vehicles will travel free, and travelling officers are major road users. I wish them good luck with their fences and the stray (and non-stray) animals. And I predict that this super-highway will become the prime target for any disgruntled citizens' group wanting to block a road to make a point.
The details of the management contract relating to this Toll Road have been kept a national secret; so much for openness and transparency! We need to know what we have given up in order to have this super-highway, so we can judge whether it is worth it
COMPENSATION
It has been said publicly that the contract requires the government to pay compensation (damages) to the operators should a passenger train service be resumed (because they will get less tolls).Þ Is it true that similarly the government will be liable to pay damages if they maintain the old road through Old Harbour in good repair
Is it true that the managers have been guaranteed a certain rate of profit such that if the toll project loses money, the government will have to make up the difference?
I would like to know the answers to these questions.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and executive director of an Environment and Development NGO.
