By Robert Hart, Staff ReporterTRANSJAMAICA HIGHWAY Ltd. will have to fork out $150,000 in its application for permission to charge toll fees on the soon-to-be opened Old Harbour bypass.
The cost of the application is contained in Section 23 of the Toll Roads Act. Yesterday, the Senate approved the regulations that will govern the operations of the toll road.
"The fee will cover the expenses of the toll regulator in processing the application, advertisement of notices and any other related costs," said Senator Burchell Whiteman, Leader of Government Business in the Senate. The regulations indicate that the notices of the toll rates must be published in the gazette and a newspaper circulated throughout the country.
It has already been reported that the toll fees will range
from $50 to about $100, but Opposition Senator Bruce Golding has continued to raise concerns about the state of the toll road.
MAJOR CONSTRUCTION
According to him, up to last weekend it appeared that there was still major construction work being carried out at the eastern end of the east bound lane of the highway.
"What I saw on Saturday certainly didn't suggest that, short of a miracle, that (construction work) could be completed in time for the re-opening on Monday of next week," he said during the debate.
Kingsley Thomas, head of the National Road Operating
and Construction Company (NROCC), said earlier this week that the toll road should open on Monday, September 22, after it missed the earlier deadline of September 15.
