House passes motion for lower Berbice Bridge tolls

Robeson Benn

-Benn says gov’t won’t comply

While the opposition early yesterday morning passed a motion in Parliament for a steep reduction in the Berbice River Bridge tolls, government rejected the move with Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn saying that an economic analysis of the initiative would be necessary first.

Passage of the motion with the opposition’s one-seat majority came after a bruising four-hour-long debate that was punctuated by a power cut that plunged Demerara into darkness. The motion to cut the tolls was moved by APNU MP Joseph Harmon and is a delicate matter for the ruling PPP/C as its constituency would have mainly benefited from it.

“I will not reduce the toll. I will not reduce the toll to any person in Guyana until by economic modeling and defining we can determine that it