A Partnership for National Unity

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A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament, Joseph Harmon has announced that a separate amendment has been added to the motion filed in the National Assembly for the reduction of the Berbice Bridge Toll.Member of Parliament Joseph HarmonThis he said has been done taking into consideration that proponents of the government would argue that the Berbice Bridge Company Inc (BBCI), in its current state is privately owned, hence the motion to bring it to Parliament will not have the desired effect.Harmon however is contending that while that may be the case, the responsibility for establishing the toll order falls within the purview of the Minister of Public Works and this is provided for in sections three and four of the Berbice Bridge Act of 2006.Against this backdrop, he posits that the Ministry therefore has the power to reduce the fee.Harmon also posited that alternatively, the government, which has shares within the Bridge Company through the National Industrial Commercial and Investment Limited (NICIL) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) would have a director sitting on the board who must be able to articulate on government’s behalf for a reduction in the toll.Harmon said that the reductions to the Berbice River Bridge tolls are important since many Berbicians and commuters are complaining over the high costs required to travel over the bridge. He said the fact that the toll was reduced in August for a “holiday special” is evidence that the company can reduce tolls and still remain viable.“The reductions which we have proposed are reductions which the management itself had undertaken in the period of August between the 1st and 12th…they said they were responding to criticisms which were made by the opposition political parties and that they are also responding to that …what they were going to do is implement a holiday special for that period…Our belief however is that because that period coincided with the PPP congress that was held in Berbice, they deliberately reduced the tolls to facilitate movement by their PPP comrades across the bridge…So what we are saying is that if it can be done then it should be done for all the people not just for the PPP congress” Harmon articulated.He said that the motion that is being advanced to the National Assembly will seek to address the transference of wealth from the masses into the hands of a select few.“The motion also seeks to address the question of devolution of wealth from one part of the country and the wealth that goes from the hands of a people into the hands of a small group of persons. If you examine the way in which the Berbice Bridge is structured by the persons who actually hold the shares in that company you will recognize that a lot of that money belongs to us (the people of Guyana). Some of the money came from the NIS, some of the money came from NICIL and that’s our money… it’s our money!”  Harmon stressed.Harmon established that the liquidated company Colonial Life Insurance Inc (CLICO) Inc had investments in the Bridge and even though the company owed the NIS, it was allowed to dilute the shareholdings into the hands of a company owned by Dr. Ranjisingh ‘Bobby’ Ramroop.He said that it was a scheme where, “you are taking money out of the hands of people and putting it in the hands of a small group of persons so that the NIS which is owed by CLICO, is allowed to sell its shares to an individual and still haven’t paid the NIS.”“We are therefore talking about large sums of money, in this case we are looking at an average of $1.5B annually, which represents revenue from December 2008 to the present…My understanding is that the profit is somewhere in the vicinity of $350M to $500M a year… that’s profit, so when you look at those things and you recognize that what has happened is the type of devolution of wealth from sections of the society into the hands of a private group, that way this type of motion becomes extremely necessary” said Harmon.The motion in effect seeks to reduce the total costs that are paid by vehicles that cross the Berbice River Bridge.The proposal urges across the board reductions in motor vehicles traversing the bridge with motorcycles traversing free.“The motion proposes to slash the toll for motor cars and minibuses by more than half.”