Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
A motorist drives past the toll plaza under construction on the Portmore leg of Highway 2000. - ANDREW SMITH/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
RESIDENTS OF Portmore should know soon how much they will be required to pay in toll charges when the Portmore leg of Highway 2000 officially opens next month.
Transport and Works Minister, Robert Pickergsill, is expected to submit to Cabinet today the proposed toll, which was approved last Monday, when he met with operators of Highway 2000 and political representatives at an Infrastructure Sub-Committee meeting.
Mr. Pickersgill has so far refused to say how much the residents would be required to pay, before consulting with members of the Cabinet. In the meantime, the Portmore Citizens' Advisory Council (PCAC) is organising a public forum for tomorrow at the Portmore Lions Club to discuss the announced toll.
Yvonne McCormack, chairman of the PCAC, told The Gleaner yesterday that the meeting was to update the residents on the situation, as they were outraged about the reported $79 toll charge.
"There is a real outcry," she said, adding that the community was also upset that it was excluded from last week's Infra-structure Sub-Committee meeting with Mr. Pickersgill.
"Only the mayor and other political representatives were there. They had said that they would have invited us but they didn't," she said.
The Government is yet to meet with the residents despite recent requests by the PCAC backed by the Portmore Ministers' Fraternal.
NO DATE FOR TALKS
Yesterday, Mrs. McCormack said while Mr. Pickersgill had acknowledged receiving the letter requesting the meeting, a date has not yet been announced for such a consultation.
Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal threw out the constitutional challenge brought by Portmore residents against the imposition of a toll on the Portmore leg of Highway 2000.
Four Jamaica Labour Party councillors were among those who brought the challenge.
Last July, Miss Justice Gloria Smith, sitting in the Judicial Review Court, dismissed a motion brought by the PCAC and the Portmore Joint Citizens' Association seeking to quash the minister's order designating the toll road.
That ruling was not appealed.
