'An unconscionable act'

Portmore residents fume over toll increase

Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

STARTING NEXT Saturday, motorists using Highway 2000 East-West will have to dig deeper into their pockets when they reach the toll plazas.

This section of the highway covers the Vineyards, Spanish Town, Portmore, and May Pen toll plazas. The biggest increase is for Class Three vehicles at the Vineyards Toll Plaza, where motorists will now pay $790 each way, up from $700. Class Three vehicles using the Portmore plaza will cost $60 more as that toll goes up to $450, and the woes continue for Class Three drivers, as the Spanish Town toll goes up by $50, to $300.

Residents of Portmore, Jamaica's largest community, will probably feel the pinch the most. Class One vehicles go up by $20 to $150, but Class Two jumps by $30 to $230 each way, so the family SUV will now cost nearly $500 round trip.

President of the Hellshire Park Estates, Leonard Cowan, assumed the increase was linked to the devaluing dollar.

"Considering we have wage freeze and these things, I think it is a wicked thing," he said. "With everything else going up at this time, it is an unconscionable act."

Cowan said there should be some outcry from the people.

"If we keep sitting down, these things are going to keep creeping up on us," he said.

Cowan said he would be raising the matter at the Hellshire Heights Joint Council meeting.

INEVITABLE

Meanwhile, Howard Hamilton, chairman of the Greater Portmore Joint Council, said the increase was not acceptable, but inevitable.

"Even though we would not like to have a rate increase, based on the whole economic situation, there's no way we would escape a rate increase," he said. "The Government would not be in a position to offset any of the costs."

Hamilton said there wasn't much Portmore residents could do.

"It wouldn't make sense to protest in light of the economic conditions," he said. "We, in Portmore, are really swamped."

Drivers of small vehicles (Class One), using the Vineyards toll, will now pay $310, an increase of $40. So if you are driving to May Pen using the toll road, you must find $620 to and from your destination. The smallest increase is for Class One vehicles using the May Pen toll, a stretch from the Vineyards plaza. That toll increases by $10 to $70.