Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer
THE TWO-YEAR-LONG struggle between Government and residents of Portmore over the opening of a toll highway will enter a new phase tomorrow.
A 15-member delegation of community leaders, with a four-point mandate from residents, will meet Transport and Works Minister Robert Pickersgill at his Maxfield Avenue offices in St. Andrew.
Residents of the sprawling St. Catherine community, which lies west of Kingston Harbour, are opposed to Government replacing their free access road with a toll highway. On three occasions over the past two years the courts have ruled in favour of the Government, but this has not quelled the anger of residents.
Government has indicated that the toll concessionaire has applied for a toll capped at $79.
At a town meeting hosted on Tuesday evening by the Portmore Citizens Advisory Council (PCAC) it was difficult for PCAC chairperson Yvonne McCormack to control the emotional residents.
'SOLD OUT'
Some persons charged that they had been sold out by their political representatives and accused the Government of treating them as 'cash cows'.
The residents were further angered by the perceived disrespect by Mr. Pickersgill, who Miss McCormack said took more than a week to reply to her request for a meeting.
One resident, Don Brooks, was forceful: "Portmore people have been disrespected by the Minister of Works; he doesn't even find it necessary to come over and speak to us and now we are hearing all kinds of funny things. He is much too elusive for us to believe that even if this toll starts at $5.00 it will not increase rapidly over a short period."
During Tuesday's meeting several persons were booed, among them Deputy Mayor of Portmore, Colin Fagan, who persons believed was supportive of the toll.
Toll mandate
A maximum toll of J$30
No toll for senior citizens
Member of the PCAC to sit on toll review board
No toll should be charged before the $400 million repair to feeder and alternative roads commences.
