Robert Royer, Gleaner WriterPORTMORE COMMUNITY and municipal leaders left a meeting with Prime Minister P.J. Patterson yesterday with the promise of improvements to the Mandela Highway, the alternative route to the toll highway being built to replace the causeway linking the St. Catherine community to the Corporate Area.
The road work will cost in excess of US$10 million (J$650 million).
"We were pleased with the Prime Minister's announcement that a decision has been taken to do major upgrading on the Mandela Highway, Marcus Garvey Drive, Port Henderson back road, Portmore Park Way and Passage Fort Drive," Mayor George Lee told The Gleaner/ Power 106 News yesterday.
The Prime Minister also said he would agitate for a frequent user toll concession for motorists who use the Portmore leg of Highway 2000. The frequent user rate of Highway 2000 is not being
considered only for Portmore
residents, but all users of the Portmore leg of the highway. Mr. Patterson advised the residents that the toll had to be determined by the toll regulatory body.
But chairperson of the Portmore Citizens Advisory Council (PCAC), Yvonne McCormack said she was disappointed with the outcome of yesterday's meeting.
ANOTHER MEETING SCHEDULED
"My personal feeling is that we did not get much from the meeting," Miss McCormack said. She added that Mr. Patterson only revisited the issues while not being able to tell the meeting what would be the required toll or what concessions the residence will get. Another meeting is scheduled within a month to be chaired by Transport and Works Minister Robert Pickersgill.
Portmore residents had expressed anger at a proposed toll of $65, and a Gleaner-commissioned survey conducted last August by Johnson Survey Research Ltd., revealed that most residents would only be willing to pay $30.
The Supreme Court last year ruled in favour of the Government naming Mandela Highway as a suitable alternative to the toll road in a lawsuit brought by a group of residents.
