THE Portmore leg of the Highway 2000 toll road opens today, amid a boycott call by residents of the municipality over the $60 to $200 charges for the use of the six-lane highway from Portmore to the nation’s capital, Kingston.

However, despite the planned boycott, Trevor Jackson, managing director of Trans-Jamaican Highway, operators of the toll road, said yesterday that sales of electronic tags (t-tags) for using the toll road have been encouraging, with more than 2,000 tags being purchased by individuals and companies since being offered to the public at the beginning of the week. More than 1,000 of the tags were sold yesterday.

Yvonne McCormack, head of the Portmore Citizens Advisory Council (PCAC), said in response to the sale of the t-tags: “You can’t have a 100 per cent boycott.”

She added: “Monday morning is our test case. It is now the residents’ call, it is their money, let us see what they are made of,” McCormack told the Observer yesterday.

Some residents of the municipality, represented by the PCAC, were however, adamant yesterday that the $60 fee for cars using the highway was too high and vowed to carry out their planned boycott, initially for a period of two months.

Meanwhile, another civic group, the Portmore Joint Citizens Association, was last night expected to stage a candlelight vigil, to protest against the toll charges.

Each pre-paid t-tag costs a minimum of $500. To pass through the Portmore toll plaza, cars will be charged $60, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV), $100, and trucks and buses $200. A frequent user programme allows a discount, but would be applied only after the 10th passage.

Last Wednesday, the Portmore Municipal Council, headed by Mayor George Lee, a representative of the ruling People’s National Party, passed a resolution requesting government to review the frequent user programme of the toll road. But the council frowned on the planned boycott, saying there was still room for dialogue.

“We are advocating a cap of $50 and a more friendly frequent user programme, as low as $30 per car,” Deputy Mayor Colin Fagan told the Observer.

Among the companies that bought tags yesterday for their vehicles was the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), which secured 150 for its vehicles that use the Portmore route, Jackson said.

According to Gwyneth Davidson, public relations manager at the JUTC, there would be no increase in bus fares resulting from toll costs, but she was unable to give the total amount of the deposit paid to TransJamaican Highway for the t-tags.

Today’s opening will also signal the end of the one-way movement of traffic along the causeway corridor in and out of Portmore during peak hours.

Davidson said the tidal flow of traffic out of Portmore in the mornings and afternoons will cease to exist with the opening of the toll road, and therefore JUTC routing might have to be altered to reflect these changes.