Workers atop the new Martha Brae bridge in Trelawny watch during yesterday's tour of segment two of the North Coast Highway by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. -Herbert McKenis photo
Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter
SCORES OF angry Portmore residents declared on Thursday that they are prepared to fight 'tooth, nail and lawsuit', the proposed plan for a $65 per trip toll charge across the soon to be built high-speed six-lane bridge, which is to replace the existing Causeway bridge.
However, Fitz Jackson, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance said yesterday that he expects the toll to be much less than the $65 figure that has been making the rounds.
"I expect it to be significantly less based on discussions with Dr. Wayne Reid, managing director of National Road Operating and Construction Company (NROCC). If it is not less it is because the person who has been talking to me is dishonest," said Minister Jackson.
In a highly charged meeting held at the Portmore HEART Academy on Thursday night, residents argued that the proposal to toll them for using the current road was indecent and out of the question.
If introduced at the circulated $65 rate Portmore residents would end up paying an additional $50,000 annually for a single round-trip per car.
"We will not pay the toll. We will seek legal representation and explore possibilities of taking out an injunction against the developers of the highway. We wish to have the old road and the old bridge left for us," said Karen Hewett-Kennedy, chairperson of the Portmore Citizen's Advisory Committee (PCAC).
These decisions form part of a 19-point counter-proposal arrived at by members of the community after almost three hours of impassioned dialogue with the PCAC executive body in the presence of Portmore Mayor George Lee and Mr. Jackson who is also Member of Parliament for St. Catherine South.
Residents also agreed to open petition books at post offices, the HEART Academy, the Portmore Mall and the churches for citizens to register their opposition to the charges. They also vowed to hold a mass rally in the open lands opposite the Portmore Mall and proposed that Portmore residents receive exemption tags on their vehicles if the Toll Plaza is introduced.
At the end of the meeting, Mayor Lee tried to temper the emotions of the citizens with what he said were assurances from the developers but was roundly booed.
"The facts are that Portmore needs Highway 2000 or a new bridge because the one that you have will not last very long," Lee said, amid shouts from the hecklers.
"I was with the Highway 2000 people this afternoon and I said to them that the $65 is a no, and they said to me 'we have not yet decided on a toll and we have another plan that we have worked on.'
LAUGHED AT PROPOSAL
He added: "They said they have a frequent user plan for the residents of Portmore to give them a frequent user price."
But the residents laughed at the proposal, then shouted a defiant 'no' in his direction at the podium.
"I said to them that the people of Portmore want to keep their bridge, they said 'if the people keep the bridge it will have a negative impact on the whole project,'" said Mr. Lee. "But tonight you are here to express your views and I respect whatever decision you take here tonight. You have my full support as your Mayor," he said.
Trevor Jackson, managing director of TransJamaican Highway Limited (THL), a subsidiary of the highway developer, Bouygues Travaux Publics of France, maintained as expressed last month, that it was unlikely that the highway operators will back down on a toll for the US$100 million (J$6.1 billion) project.
The developer explained that the $65 was the maximum toll which was arrived at through complicated calculations. In the end though, he said, toll charges will have to
be approved by Government toll regulators.
