When the project was first mooted some two years ago we hailed it then as the boldest development project to be conceptualised in this country in recent times.
We were then, as we are now, impressed with its potential to permit the faster transit of people and goods and the opening of interior regions, which through added accessibility would be brought into the mainstream. We are therefore pleased that it is now being implemented.
The project will be very expensive, the initial estimates place the cost at some US$390 million, but with economic development, which the highway itself can help to generate, it should be worth it in the long term.
The Prime Minister, Mr. Patterson, at the ground-breaking ceremony has spoken about the creation of 50,000 jobs in a two-year period. In the absence of details on how these jobs will be created and in what sectors, we can safely assume that this pronouncement was made with an eye to the coming elections.
Highway 2000 is to be a toll road, which means that those who use it will have to pay for the ease of travel and the time-saving that it will provide. It is critical therefore, that the toll is set at a level that will make it cost-effective for significant sections of the travelling public to use the highway.
We are aware of a country in our region with a per capita income that is twice ours where a toll road is woefully underutilised because the travelling public considers it too costly.
What is also of critical importance is for there to be proper management of the project to prevent the type of cost overruns that has bedevilled our road projects in the past, even though the cost of the project will not be borne directly by the taxpayer.
