By Fareeza Haniff
[www.inewsguyana.com] – The River Taxi Service for residents on the West and East Bank of Berbice will be in operation from Monday, September 21, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon announced at a post cabinet media briefing.
“The work on the river taxi…we expect that service should commence on Monday morning… so that the children who have to go to school and the elderly persons, they will have that alternative in place from Monday,” Minister Harmon told reporters.
The APNU+AFC government decided to implement the river taxis as a direct response to the refusal of officials from the Berbice Bridge Company to reduce the tolls of the Berbice River Bridge.
Government had announced a reduced toll structure which was slated to take effect on September 01, but the officials from the Company refused to implement it on the grounds that millions of dollars will be lost to investors and government did not consult with them.
The administration is providing a monthly subsidy to the Company to compensate for the loss, but this too was refused, resulting in a stalemate between the two sides.
In this regard, Minister Harmon noted that consultations are still ongoing with Shareholders of the Company.
“We expect that good sense will prevail at the appropriate time and that they will decide to do what is the right thing,” the Minister said.
Now that the owners of the private bridge company have made the decision to halt services to the Berbice travel community who would normally access the bridge, why is the government committed to an ongoing monthly supplemental allotment? Seems that the company is being rewarded for rendering no service to it’s customers. All and any State funds should be held up until service is renewed at reasonable cost to the user.
I expect you would take that position. Exploiters of a feather flock together. Those greedy scum who own a bridge funded by tax payers money need to be taught a lesson. Hope the government keeps the service in place until whenever.
A backward move.