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Lambert Brown/Guest ColumnistThree years ago, the government passed a law in Parliament giving the minister of transport enormous power to declare 'any road' in Jamaica a toll road. Any road includes 'any bridge' as well. This power of the minister is only limited by the requirement that no road should be designated as a toll road unless, in the area in which the toll road is to be established, there is an alternative route accessible to the public by vehicular or other traffic. This is the effect of Section 8 of The Toll Road Act, 2002.
'highway robbery'
In reality, if the minister wants, he could declare the road by Flat Bridge or the Yallahs Fording a toll road. After all, he could argue that there are alternative roads available. Some of you may think this is farfetched but this is the reality that now faces the people of Portmore. It is my view that Portmore is really a test case before many more citizens in different parts of Jamaica get caught into a toll shakedown or what some call 'highway robbery'.
For over 30 years, the people of the 'Sunshine City' have used the causeway to gain access to their homes from Kingston. In fact, I vividly recall the advertisements offering the homes for sale in the early 1970s indicating that it would take less than 15 minutes via the causeway to reach communities such as Braeton and Marine Park. Now, 10,000 houses later the people of Portmore find that the infrastructure including roads cannot support the population. The truth is, it takes an extraordinarily long time to get either to or from the dormitory communities.
There can be no doubt that a new highway to facilitate the quicker movement of the population is more than overdue. Indeed, as a resident of Portmore, I, like the overwhelming majority of 'Portmorians', support the construction of the new highway. Similarly, we would have no problem with the designation of the road a 'toll road' once there is a reasonable alternative road as is required by law. The plain fact is Mandela Highway is not such a reasonable alternative for the people of Portmore. This notwithstanding the fact that a senior minister of government did say that an alternative road "may be through a cane piece".
The people of Portmore are not seeking freeness. Instead, they are seeking fairness. Indeed, these tens of thousands of captive citizens probably pay more in GCT, PAYE, SCT (on petrol), property taxes and motor vehicle taxes than any other single area or even some entire parishes in Jamaica.
What is facing the people of Portmore is that the government is literally giving the toll operator a monopoly on the approximately 40,000 motorists who use the causeway daily. Monopoly does not work in the best interest of the people and Minister Robert Pickersgill, a former defender of a telephone monopoly, should know by now that competition is in the best interest of the country. That is why the Portmore citizens want to maintain their existing causeway as an alternative to the Toll Road. They deserve the support of all Jamaicans, irrespective of party affiliation. "Same knife that stick goat stick sheep", is a most apt proverb.
toll payment amount
Another issue of concern is the amount to be paid as toll payment. The minister said he does not know how much it will be. How can such a major project be carried out without a feasibility study? Any feasibility study I would submit must give an indication of toll rate to be charged. During the toll act debate in 2002, Audley Shaw, speaking in Parliament, indicated that a minibus going from Kingston to Mandeville would pay $270 as toll.
He was roundly ridiculed by Minister Pickersgill, who told him that "the concessionaire will have flexibility". Now three years after, the toll for a minibus going only to Old Harbour is $400.00. I wonder how much it will be when the road goes to Mandeville. Residents of Portmore should brace themselves for similar 'flexibility'.
sorrowful ending
Those who are telling the people of Portmore about special reduced rates of toll and upgrading Mandela Highway are like pied pipers, playing sweet sounding music but leading our people to a sorrowful ending. The people of Portmore must avoid these pied pipers whose destination will be a fool's paradise. Neither should any- one expect any upgrade of the Mandela Highway because that would breach the agreement with the concessionaire.
The way the government has handled the issue of the Portmore toll issue is reflective of leaders who have got drunk on power believing that the citizens should be treated as little children were in the past to be seen but never heard. Maybe the prime minister should direct that all of his ministers should have properly printed and prominently displayed in their office, the excerpt from his 1999 post-gas demonstration speech about "the new Jamaican being assertive, etc."
This may be the best antidote for the overdose of arrogance now afflicting some members of the Cabinet.
Lambert Brown is first vice-president of the University and Allied Workers Union and can be contacted at labpoyh@yahoo.com.
