By Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter 
A section of Highway 2000 near the interchange at Mandela Highway in Ferry, St. Catherine. Prime Minister P.J. Patterson will open the Bushy Park-to-Mandela leg of the highway tomorrow. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
THE PORTMORE Citizens Advisory Committee (PCAC) will be meeting with prospective lawyers today to discuss legal action to be taken against the government of Jamaica over the imposition of the controversial Toll Road on their community.
Barrington Soares, chairman of the PCAC, was clear in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday that they are making good their threat to fight the matter in the courts when they begin talks with prospective counsel today.
"We have a meeting tonight with the committee to look at certain matters and then tomorrow (today) we have a meeting with the lawyers," said the Reverend Soares.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Although no final decision will be taken today as to who will be representing the people of Portmore, Soares explained that financial backing for the suit is expected to come from pledges made by private citizens and commercial
interests in the St. Catherine municipality. Account numbers where donations can be made to support the project are expected to published at a later date.
A recent poll commissioned by the PCAC showed that the majority of Portmore residents are still against the imposition of the controversial toll road on their community, which is expected to replace the existing Causeway in 2006.
PREVIOUS POLL QUESTIONED
An earlier poll had been commissioned by the National Road Operating and Construction Company (NROCC) before construction on the highway began. However, the Portmore committee said the sample size was too small. Some 483 persons, less than two per cent of the population, were said to be involved in the poll which residents have criticised as unrepresentative of the more than 200,000-strong community.
In July, scores of angry Portmore residents declared that they were prepared to fight 'tooth, nail and lawsuit' against the proposed plan for a $65 per trip toll charge across the high-speed six-lane bridge currently being constructed by the French company Bouygues Travaux Publics.
