Portmore toll necessary
published: Thursday | July 27, 2006

THE EDITOR, Sir:

For too long I have seen Jamaica yearn for improvement of the almost non-existent transportation infrastructure. My fellow Jamaicans, especially those of you who will utilise the new Portmore leg of the Highway 2000, should not expect the rest of tax-paying Jamaicans to finance the toll so that you can pay less. Please remember that you are the government, like it or not, and if the cost is pushed back on the government it will in turn come right back to you in other forms. In my current position as supply chain management specialist at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, I see firsthand the need for tolls to be paid to maintain the best possible bridges and tunnels between NY and NJ. The tolls that are paid are significantly higher than in Jamaica and I know one would argue that Americans earn more, but remember the cost of these facilities are very similar.

I am not advocating the support of the ruling Government and would like to make that clear, but I would like the Opposition to stop playing politics with this issue as they could not handle it in a different manner. Residents of Portmore should reject the support of the Opposition as they are seeking their own political gains at the hands of the taxpayers in Jamaica as a whole.

In closing, I challenge the citizens that oppose the toll to do their research to see if they can find a country that has a good transportation infrastructure that is not tolled in some way.

I am, etc.,

XAVIER D. ALLEN

xallen@pegasus.rutgers.edu

East Orange, New Jersey

Via Go-Jamaica