“We will never allow such increases” – Minister Patterson on the Berbice Bridge tolls

Amidst calls for Government to rethink its decision not to grant toll increases to the Berbice Bridge Company Incorporated (BBCI), Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson has declared that Government will not, under any circumstance, allow the draconian increases being proposed by the BBCI.

“The Government’s position remains the same. We think that the proposed cost by the Berbice Bridge Company Incorporated (BBCI) is way in excess (of reasonableness), and would be burdensome to the citizens of Berbice in Regions Five and Six,” Patterson has said.
In a Department of Public Information report, Minister Patterson further added, “We are not — at this time or at any time at all — contemplating raising the tolls to those levels: 300 percent! We obviously will continue to engage the BBCI for alternative solutions, save and except passing it on to the consumers.”
Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes has said the Berbice Bridge was badly conceptualised and is doomed to failure. He says the bridge also stands at an inappropriate location.
“The Berbice Bridge was (always) a financial disaster. The numbers never added up, they still do not add up. They want to carry the fares up, it becomes a political issue; but the reality for us in Guyana is (that), had we initially run the numbers, the bridge wouldn’t be located where it is today; it would be located down the river, where it was narrower and more feasible… If we had really run the numbers, we would have ended up with a permanent, fixed-span bridge rather than a floating bridge,” Hughes has said.
Both Minister Patterson and Attorney-at-Law Hughes were present at the National Toshaos Council’s 12th Annual Conference being hosted at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre under the theme “Preserving Our Past, Protecting Our Future”.
BBCI Chairman Dr. Surendra Persaud recently called on Government to allow the company to increase its tolls to keep the Berbice Bridge afloat. The bridge was constructed under a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) scheme, a public-private partnership venture.
Construction of this bridge under the Bharrat Jagdeo Administration was heavily criticised, because a few private investors were allowed almost total control of the bridge although they had invested only a fraction of the almost Gy$9.5 billion (US$45 million) used to build it. The Government of Guyana is the bridge’s largest investor, but can take control only after 20 years.