When the Speaker put the vote to the House the ruling Administration was loud in its disapproval to reduce the Berbice Bridge TOLL.

Source:

Guyana Parlaiment FB Page

Harmon further went on to chastise Benn and added that “saying he will not reduce the toll smacks of arrogance; he has no regard for the resolutions of this House and the people of Berbice.”

---- APNU's JOE HARMON.

Mr. Harmon came out as the political winner in this debate.  Even the Bengal Tiger of Berbice Moses Nagamootoo had to give ground.  WELL DONE Harmon, the man from West Bank Demerara.

Minister Benn has cost the PPP the elections.

If APNU has any political sense, this is the issue to break the PPP back in Berbice.

Granted that the Berbice river bridge is mainly privately owned, the shareholders should show that they have a social conscience and reduce the tolls to a manageable level.

Vehicle owners provide the revenue to the shareholders. They deserve some consideration.

Correction, Kishan.

Moses has Tamil/Madrasi ancestry, not Bengali.

Therefore, it's more appropriate to call Moses the Tamil Tiger of Berbice.

The Guyanese people paid 90% of the cost of the bridge and the ten percenters own it completely. That is the fate of the Guyanese people. 90 percent of the state assets will end up into the PPP's friends and family pocket. Everything they do is a scam. Look clearly you will see it if you care to look with your heart and senses. The Marriott...who do you think is building it for "some unknown investor"...most certainly that  will be bobby the boob....and all on the Guyanese people's coin once again.

And guess what...when that happens, all the PPP sheep will bend their knees to their masters and say....you did well! PPP supporters are gutless swines. They know they are acting against their own interest since none of them gain by it...they remain destitute and on the margin of starvation while the PPP  clan become the nation’s fatted calves. These people prefer to live in the reflected glow of their race becoming rich stealing the nations blind than even contemplate fairness if it means other than their kind in office.

It's widely suspected and rumored that Bobby's millions are invested in the Marriot. Confirmation will emerge one day, or night when the hotel is opened.

The nation has put up every dime and collateralize every loan to date. If bobby was putting his money in from the start then the deal would be his and the nation would have nothing to do with it. However, the PPP in their state/private partnerships have made it possible for the state to pay the lions share of the cost of the build out and their crony comes ins supposedly "investing" and takes the whole cake. This is why everyone complains.

If the PPP tells  opens up the deal for anyone to  come up with eight million dollars and secure the loans to complete the hotel and get all of the tax and import perks  plus the casino etc I am sure that dozens of Guyanese will take want to take  it off their hands in  a heart beat.  The problem here is these are all closed deals with friends and family at the heart of them. Sad to say it is always the same people over and over.

The PPP is more interested in the greed of private investors than in the need of the people of Guyana. Minister Ben is only concerned with the financial income of the friends of the PPP. He is not concerned with the cost our poor brothers and sisters have to endure in order to be able to cross the bridge. The bridge was a scam from day one.

This issue really pizz me off.

The crabs DAAGS in the PPP really got belly to continue to rob poor people.

Nehru, continue to support these tiefs. Once day will come fuh you.

Entire Berbice Bridge deal needs to be restructured to lower financing cost

Posted By Staff Writer On May 20, 2014 @ 5:01 am In Letters | No Comments

Minister Benn could ease the bridge toll pain on Berbicians by cross subsidization

Posted By Staff Writer On May 20, 2014 @ 5:05 am In Letters | No Comments

The PPP will pay a heavy political toll for such stupidity.

More money in the pockets of the PPP and their cronies while the working class punishes.

The sky is falling,the sky is falling.

Heh Heh Heh. KishanB dem and Rosie dem bait de Linden peopkle seh subsidy foh Linden. Dem seh cut de fare foh de bridge. PPP seh remove de subsidy foh blackman and keep de price high foh c00lie man a Berbice deh. De PPP now is de pro business party like Modi and Rosie and KishanB a now de polulis. Lard have mercy!

the ppp do not care they fig they will always be a minority party from now on with the house slaves the police and the GDF TO KEEP THEM IN POWER

The PPP’s position on this toll is flawed and must be rejected in its entirety

DEAR EDITOR, In 2009, the joint Chambers of Commerce in Berbice met representative members of the Berbice Bridge Company, namely Mr. Cheong and Mr. Carter, to discuss the toll charges.  The Berbice businessmen left that meeting stating that they were, “optimistic from the conversation that there would be adjustments to the current toll structure”.   They have now received their answer from the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Robeson Benn – “I will not reduce the toll for any reason…” Road/bridge transport has been the dominant form of transport in Guyana and thus offers great opportunity for cross subsidization.  This toll definitely needs not be at these extortionate levels. But to find the right level of toll charges, there must be an awareness of the plight of the poor and the working class.  This remains the core issue. Since 2009, the Ramotar administration, which controls more than 70 percent of the assets of this bridge along with a golden share, has refused to conduct the “Options Analysis” to ascertain the economic feasibility of reducing this toll.  It has chosen instead to take the slothful path and issue silly statements in spite of the miseries of the travelling poor who have to cross that Bridge, be they school children, teachers, nurses or public servants.  This is reason enough for the commencement of a different form of struggle against this anti-human, anti-national and anti-patriotic behaviour by this PPP regime. I call on the AFC and APNU, especially all those Parliamentarians with roots in Berbice, to use this act of oppression from the PPP, as provocation enough to start a peaceful and non-violent public protest once a week, on Cabinet day. I humbly suggest Vlissengen Road in front of the mecca of oppression, until the demands of the people are met. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”.  Power was given to APNU and the AFC some 2 ½ years ago as a collective, but what have they really done with that power?  Name one concession they have gotten for the people from the oppressive PPP? Their majority rule has been rendered into an epic of ineffective outcomes, by the minority regime. This Berbice Bridge toll issue is just the latest addition to that list of proposals for the benefit of the people, all undermined by the PPP. The people are not stupid; overwhelmingly the majority supports a reduction of this toll, save and except for a handful in the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal and their bootlickers.  For his remarkable act in piloting this bill, Mr. Joseph Harmon must be applauded for holding the line in very turbulent waters with much resistance from vested interest in the private sector who have milked hundreds of millions in profits off of the sweat of the traveling poor. History will always remember Mr. Harmon and I raise my hat to him.  Mr. Harmon, you have done your part; let us see what the rest of the MPs on the west side will do going forward? OPTIONS No one is asking the Berbice Bridge Company to take a loss, after all in 2011 they made a profit of some $216 million and I was reliably informed that they made a profit of some $252 million in 2012 from a revenue stream of some $1.3 billion.  The 2013 number remains a state secret but the profits were good enough to grant free crossing during the PPP 30th Congress in August 2013. Prior to the bridge, the unsatisfied demand for this service (crossing the river more efficiently) was tremendous as a result of a broken ferry system.  Therefore, out of desperation, people did say they would pay anything.  But the volume of traffic today has surpassed all benchmarks in the feasibility study at conception.  In business when volume increases, unit price goes down, but not for the greedy owners and their political masters. In an environment where approximately 666,000 vehicles traversed the bridge in 2013, Mr. Harmon’s proposal is expected to produce a loss of revenue of some $365 million for the Bridge. With a subsidy from Treasury of some $300 million every year, the company with $252 million profit can easily eat the residual $65 million.  This is very possible for people and country. After all, the State subsidized the operations of the Demerara Harbour Bridge in 2013 by some $300 million. But the PPP has calculated that it can push the boundaries of rationality because it has its racial cast net to haul-in the Berbicians at election time.  But it is so wrong since that cast net has many holes today. In an environment of social media and TV; the absence of judicious, fair and transparent governance will be punished severely.  We only have to reflect on how Mr. Modi in India broke down the “caste silos” as the people rebelled against the misrule of the Gandhi dynasty.  In Guyana, with an ever-youthful population, and with so much economic oppression, the “racial silos” have started to break down. No amount of propaganda on NCN can erase Mr. Benn’s pronouncements.  Unless the PPP adheres to the instructions of Parliament with respect to this bridge, the poor and the working class in Berbice will be very unkind to the party at the ballot box. In the final analysis, the PPP’s position on this toll is flawed and must be rejected in its entirety.  The tolls must come down; over to you Mr. Granger! Sase Singh

Since 2009, the Ramotar administration, which controls more than 70 percent of the assets of this bridge along with a golden share, has refused to conduct the “Options Analysis” to ascertain the economic feasibility of reducing this toll.  It has chosen instead to take the slothful path and issue silly statements in spite of the miseries of the travelling poor who have to cross that Bridge, be they school children, teachers, nurses or public servants.  -

Kari do you think they PPP should reduce the Berbice River TOLL.

Your views!

Skeldon Man as a Berbician, do you think the tolls must come down?

Berbice Bridge!

I think the government should subsidize the tolls the same way they do for the electricity rates for the Lindeners. Agree? How about berbicians paying $5.00 per crossing?

That is a solution to you  because you are a bigoted twit. The sugar industry is already being subsidized to the tune of some 6 billion annually. Further, the People already paid 90% of the cost of building the bridge so the own the majority stake in the enterprise. Dividends due the state to the tune of some 110 millions annually are illegally refused by the Penguin Brazzie. The idea of paying these leeches half of their predatory fees is unadulterated nonsense.

You racist female canine. Not all Berbicians work in the sugar industry or benefit form it. I do expose your hate and racist attitude for the Indians. There is no doubt that you are Amerind/Negro mixture. You have no India indian blood in you..what a liar! Guh wash you stinking cyat.

The sugar industry is the majority employer. Further, I made the analogy to illustrate you bigotry. It is not a matter of comparing who got what but this is a matter of a bridge, owned by the people but managed the minority share holders ( BOOT used in crony Capitalism) who take all the earnings and gouge the owners of the bridge.

Your habit blinds  you into parsing everything by race. I do not care what you think I am. You happen to be wrong since I know who I am. I guess you need to massage your filthy racist core with the view that only a black person can speak of the ills of the Indian PPP government.

But that is besides the point. Who I am has nothing to do with available facts that can be easily vetted if you had but an ounce of compunction for the truth.

Ain't nobady gat time for moe ah dis stinkin hagwash. Flush dis down de tailet.

Again, you are not the target of my texts. You are merely a toxic commentator. I respond to watch you reduce yourself to natural habitat among the denizens of the trash heap.

Berbice bridge toll rejection…Government has chosen the investors over the people of Guyana – Harmon

“The Peoples Progressive Party [PPP] should be ashamed that after such a long time the Berbice Bridge remains an albatross around the necks of Berbicians and people who have to use that Bridge and still they have not seen it fit to reduce this toll after the cry of Berbicians.”
These assertions were made by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Executive and Shadow Minister of Public Works and Transportation Joseph Harmon in response to the recent comment by General Secretary of the PPP Clement Rohee that the Opposition will chase away investors with their demand to reduce the Bridge tolls.

APNU Shadow Minister for Public Works and Transportation Joseph Harmon

Harmon said Government has chosen “… the investors against the people of Guyana and that is the choice which they have made and that is not our choice. We have looked at the situation, we have listened to the cries of the people, the Berbice Chamber of Commerce also asked about it.”
According to Harmon the Government is now trying to save face. “Investors would know that this is something that can be adjusted, the investors know that but what happened is that the Government under former President Bharrat Jagdeo passed an Act in Parliament (the Berbice Bridge Act).”
This Act according to Harmon “elevated the concession agreement to the level of a Government contract. So in other words it’s now binding the Government by what they have done there. They have given 21 years of concessions on all sorts of things. In addition to that no taxes are to be paid by the investors and no taxes on the interest. So what you have are concessions all the way to the bank.”
He continued that “now a Minister of Government Mr. Irfan Ali is saying that we don’t even have a director… we have no representation on the board, now how could that be when you put all of your money in there and the Government now decides that there is no need for Government representation and decide that they are going to forgo the payment of your money that is in there.”
It was pointed out during the recent debate on the reduction of the River Bridge toll in Parliament that NICIL had sold its 950 million shares in the company to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).
In fact, NICIL retains only one single share in the company and has no directors on the board whilst NIS only has a single director.
The single largest shareholder behind the NIS is Former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s best friend, Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop through the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation and Queens Atlantic Investment Inc.
He has two directors on the eight member board, namely Avalon Jagnandan and Ravi Ramcharitar.
Ali had argued that “The Government has no direct ownership stake in company”.
“So they will say that look we are going to give to some people who have a little more interest and so on and who we want to fix up, we are going to give them a greater set of the money up front. So very early and quickly they make back their money while we have to wait” Harmon outlined.
He continued that the lifespan of the Bridge is 30 years, but the concession is 21 years “so by the time the Bridge is transferred back; it will only have 9 years left when, repairs, renovation and maintenance has to take place.”
“What kind of arrangement is that? for 21 years the good useful life of the Bridge… the maintenance level will be very low but when the Bridge gets old and at its last that is when the people will get it, and that’s when maintenance will go up and therefore any profit will have to go into maintenance and for the cost to then go down it will have to be subsidized” said Harmon.
APNU recently brought a resolution to the National Assembly seeking to reduce the toll of the Bridge which they said commuters (especially Berbicians) had complained as being very costly to travel.
The resolution was passed in the National Assembly but was rejected by the PPP led Government who through its Minister for Public works and Transportation Robeson Benn said that “I will not reduce the toll for any person in Guyana until we have determined economically that it will be a benefit.”
According to Harmon he “told Minister Benn in the National Assembly that if President Donald Ramotar does not replace him (Benn) with somebody who will respond to the dictates of the National Assembly, the people will do so and he will be out of there and then we will put a Minister who could address the concerns of the people and reduce the toll.”

I hear Harmon was on Berbice TV last night hammering them PPP tiefs.  Dhanya bhaad Mr. Harmon.

The people cheated the Berbician, but they call that Politics.

The Berbicians will bury them come 2016.

Appalling concessions given to private investors in Berbice Bridge

…Opposition intends to up the ante to have tolls reduced – Harmon 
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is gearing to up the ante to bring Government into compliance with a resolution it approved in the House recently to reduce the tolls charged to cross the Berbice River bridge.

Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop

Government throughout the debate maintained that it would not comply with the motion and the Attorney General.
Anil Nandlall has in the past argued that such resolutions in the House are not binding on Government.
APNU’s Joseph Harmon, in a brief interview with this publication said that the coalition has a number of options available, including hauling the company before the Parliamentary Economic Services Committee.
The APNU Member who brought the motion to the House said that they will also be seeking to engage the public to have public opinion brought to bear on the company to force the reduction in the tolls.
He said that there must be a public expression of support on the part of the Guyanese people
Harmon in insisting that the company can afford to reduce the tolls, pointed out that there are numerous appalling concessions that were handed to the company such as tax free dividends and guaranteed rate of returns, among others.
He lamented that many of the concessions are not public knowledge given the infamous ‘Brassington Clause’ which limits the sharing of information.
The National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) which had held 950 million shares, the single largest bloc, prior to the sale to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), had waived collecting several hundred millions in dividends to allow the other private investors to reap the benefits.
Behind NIS, the single largest private shareholding belongs to Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop through the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (GPC) and Queens Atlantic Investment Inc (QAII).
When the motion was debated in the House, Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn had said bluntly, “I will not reduce the toll for any person in Guyana until we have determined economically that it will be a benefit.”
That debate was punctuated with perceived threats of murder, incessant heckling and even a bout of blackout, when the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Government rejected the motion to reduce the tolls for crossing the Berbice River Bridge, but it was in the end approved by the Full House given the voting strength of the Political Opposition.
The Motion was successfully piloted by Harmon, who argued that the tolls being charged by the Berbice Bridge Company Inc was excessively high and meant to only enrich  a few.
He said that arguments that the company is a private one are nullified by the fact that under the Berbice Bridge Act, the Minister of Public Works has responsibility for the setting of the tolls.

APNU’s Joseph Harmon

The ownership structure of the Company is made up of ordinary share capital of $400 million owned by Private investors and preference shares of $950 million owned by NIS.
The holders of the ordinary shares, are NIS, New GPC, Queens Atlantic and Secure International Finance Company, each having $80 million, and Hand-in-Hand and Demerara Contractors each holding $40 million.
The project was built using the controversial Public Private Partnership under a Built Own Operate Transfer.
Ownership of the company will have the status quo maintained for 21 years after which it will be turned over to Government.

Up the ante mean street protest - now the PPP will Pizz its pants.