THE EDITOR, Sir:
I AM a resident of Portmore, and am hereby appealing to the relevant authorities to provide a suitable alternative route to enter and exit Portmore. Most suitable is the present causeway with a little fixing here and there.
No one in his or her right mind is against the toll road that is scheduled to open in Portmore early next year. However, Mandela Highway alone cannot be the alternative route.
Portmore is too large a community to have one real alternative. What makes matters even worse is the present situation where traffic from the toll road exits a little below the Portmore entrance/exit causing the traffic in Portmore to back-up considerably.
Frankly speaking, I think this is intended to be a money-making thing. Where the toll booth is slated to be erected at the Port Henderson and Causeway roads would only be about three minutes drive from there to where the toll road ends or about 15 to 18 minutes of brisk walking for those of us going in the Half-Way-Tree direction.
I think we will be spending more time at the toll booth purchasing tickets/passes than on the toll road itself. Why should Portmore residents be competing with the rest of the island for road space in either direction (Mandela/toll road)?
Please be reminded that the majority of Portmore residents only sleep in Portmore, everything else is done outside of Portmore.
For example, take my situation. I work in the Cross Roads area from Monday to Friday, go to downtown Kingston twice per month and attend church every Sunday in the Kingston 20 area.
CALL FROM THE HEART AND POCKET
The proposed toll charges per annum would be more than what some persons pay for mortgage per annum. Don't be fooled by our houses and the cars we drive. Many of us are just merely surviving from day to day. We have car and home improvement loans to pay, mortgages, utility bills,
children to send to school, etc.
This is not a political call as some persons are making it out to be. This is a genuine call from the heart and pocket. I would also like to remind the authorities that the majority of persons working in government offices are living in Portmore because this is the only place our salaries could afford us to buy.
I would like to use this medium to ask the Portmore Joint Council to inform residents of any more protests long in advance of the time and also to have it a little later in the day, say from about 11:00 a.m. up.
Did you know that we have quite a few persons who ride bicycles to work and school in the mornings? Will they now have to go all the way to the Mandela Highway?
What if there is a crisis and persons have to walk home, do they have to walk all the way to the Mandela Highway?
Too many persons who are not living in Portmore are making decisions for Portmore and its residents without first consulting with them.
I have made up my mind to go without the basics to fight this one, financially. I also hope it doesn't end up like the Caribbean Court saga.
I am, etc.,
CONCERNED RESIDENT
Greater Portmore, St. Catherine
