Susan Smith, Staff Reporter
DESPITE HEATED debate on the new tolls set for Highway 2000 and recent talk of a boycott, 89,000 vehicles paid their fees in the space of one week in December.
Dr. Wayne Reid, managing director of the National Road Operators Construction Company (NROCC) revealed this to Wednesday Business at the end the first week of the opening of the newest leg of the roadway. This second leg of Highway 2000, which links the Mandela Highway, St. Catherine, to Sandy Bay in Clarendon via Bushy Park, St. Catherine, was opened on December 15, 2004. It provides motorists 33 kilometres of road at a minimum of $160 for the journey, beginning from Mandela Highway through to Sandy Bay. The additional construction of the roadway from Mandela Highway to Bushy Park cost private investors Bouygues Travaux Publics construction company of France and its subsidiary, TransJamaican Highway Limited, $4.38 billion or US$71 million to develop.
The operation and maintenance of the highway is in the hands of Jamaica Infrastructure Operators (JIO).
NEW FEE STRUCTURE
When a new fee structure for the highway was announced in December, some persons felt it was too high and reverted to using the Old Harbour Road to get from Spanish Town to Clarendon and beyond. But Dr. Reid said 89,000 vehicles had passed through the toll stations in a seven-day period.
"There is no evidence of boycott," said Trevor Jackson, operation manager for JIO. "People are using the toll road and it is
foolhardy to think they are boycotting it."
Dr. Reid said the next leg to be constructed is that leading from Sandy Bay to Williamsfield, Manchester, which will
incorporate the Melrose Hill bypass.
According to the original plan posted on the Highway 2000 website on October 7, 2001, TransJamaican Highway Limited is to build the first phase of the project and has concession for the toll for 35 years.
It is to retain toll revenue subject to the obligation that once the minimum rate of return on equity is achieved, the company will provide a share of the revenue to NROCC at the end of 30 years and ownership will return to NROCC. JIO started
operations in September of 2003.
