THE EDITOR, SIR
SEVERAL DISCUSSIONS are being held across the island about the Portmore Causeway; and from what can be gleaned there is need for compromise rather than confrontation.
The causeway in its present state of decay is in need of repair and modernisation of the existing structure. The country does not have the funds to carry out these renovations, so it will be just a matter of time before there is a total collapse of the structure.
For years the Government has tried to find ways of coercing its citizenry into full tax compliance in order to continue to fund our public service sector and projects, while faced with the massive deficits and our international debt obligations.
What seems to be happening here is that the Government is being proactive in giving the causeway to the French contractor as a toll road, in order to give the residents the option of a safe and viable roadway. Some residents are opposing the toll, as they claim that the causeway is a right of way they are entitled to by virtue of buying into Portmore.
The correct way to proceed is a win-win for both the govern-ment and the community. Let the homeowners have as a condition to having free passage, a full Property Tax compliance sticker for their registered vehicles, and, that the government pay over an agreed percentage of these funds to the French contractor. This would validate the claim by the homeowners that they are entitled to the use of the causeway and, as such, their taxes are used to afford them this free passage.
I am, etc.,
ANTHONY MOYSTON
coyabo@mail.infochan.com
Mammee Bay, St Ann
Via Go-Jamaica
