NEGOTIATIONS are underway between the Government and operators of Highway 2000 East-West over rate increases, which are due on the first Saturday of July each year, as set out under the 35-year concession agreement with TransJamaican Highway Limited, the local subsidiary for French developer Bouygues Travaux Publics.

The developer has the right to increase tolls every 12 months at a rate equal to or less than the toll cap, which is subject to an adjustment based on the valuation of the Jamaica dollar against the United States dollar, and the US inflation rate.Managing Director of the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) Ivan Anderson has indicated, however, that no significant increases are expected for the North South link of Highway 2000, since there has not been any significant change in those two factors.He was answering questions about the anticipated increases at a meeting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) of Parliament on Wednesday.Following public outcry about high toll increases last year, the Government negotiated with the developers of the North South highway for a lower rate than originally proposed, which was eventually settled at 25 per cent less than the published rates.Anderson assured that Jamaicans will not be asked to pay the difference that the developers had agreed to forego almost a year ago. “Where the developer says I want ‘X’ and the Government says you will not charge ‘X’ but ‘X’ minus $10, then that $10 becomes an obligation (to the Government),” he said.In the meantime, the PAAC called for clarification on the matter of the operators of the North South highway rounding up toll charges for class one, three and four vehicles, due to what they said was a shortage of coins to make change for motorists. Motorists are now paying $20 more. PAAC member Fitz Jackson insisted that the central bank has not confirmed a shortage of small currency.Last week, the transport ministry announced the toll rate changes after the operators said they would run out of 10 and 20-dollar coins in their possession by last Friday.In the meantime, the NROCC managing director dismissed the notion that lower rates would increase traffic on the highway. “It’s easy for us to say lower the rates; we operated free for a number of weeks before we started to charge tolls. If you look at the track volumes, (it) suggests that we are capturing about 70 per cent of the traffic that would use the roadway. If you lower the rate by half, because of the maximum number of people who could even use the highway, you could not double the traffic, because the traffic doesn’t exist.He explained that the rates are set by the developers, but that the toll rates remain below the caps.Jackson had argued that high toll rates are a disincentive to housing developers who would have wanted to build along the corridors and hence cause fewer people to use the highway: “I would think that a more concessionary rate (would) create a basis on which you begin to cause people to think about building that side and using the highway. This is not a forward looking rate structure,” he stated.— Alphea Saunders