The shareholders agreement for the Berbice Bridge Company Incorpo-rated (BBCI) has to be scrapped and replaced by one which reflects proportionality in investment, according to former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran.
Writing in his accountability column in today’s Stabroek News, Goolsarran addressed the standoff between the government and the BBCI over the planned lowering of the tolls to commuters. BBCI had thus far resisted the government offer for a subsidy on present tolls and instead wants either a 55% increase in tolls or an extension of the concession period from 21 to 50 years.
Goolsarran said that the alternative proposal for an extension of the concession agreement is worth considering. However, he said that more than doubling the life of the agreement is unlikely to find favour with the Govern-ment. He said that an extension by 5-10 years may be more appropriate but subject to two conditionalities.
“The first is that the financing of the Bridge’s operations is in urgent need of restructuring so as to reduce costs and hence to provide the much-needed relief to commuters. At the moment, the BBCI is too highly geared, meaning that there is too much debt (as opposed to equity) which has to be serviced from the revenues of the Bridge.
