| – says Linden IMC Chairman “Elated” is how many business persons who are forced to traverse through Linden to get to their respective destinations sum up their feelings, after enduring a month of hardship during the recent protest action against the imposition of increased electricity tariffs for the mining Town, and the subsequent shooting to death of three Linden men.A logging truck in front of the toll booth in Linden.During the month-long unrest,Cheap NBA Jerseys Wholesale, no vehicular traffic was allowed to pass through the Town, as strategic points were blocked, effectively prohibiting ingress and egress.While there were many persons outside of Linden who showed solidarity with residents and acknowledged that they were fighting a just cause,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, there were also those that felt that they were being “punished” without justification.Among those persons were some loggers who must use the Soesdyke/Linden Highway to transport their logs to market.A few of these loggers had complained that the wood was being ‘destroyed’ by the relentless sunshine. “The wood bursting up in the sun, resulting in huge losses for us”, one man had complained.But using the river as an alternative route for transporting logs to the various markets, has long been touted as the best option, considering that they can be made into rafts and floated down the river.The need to pursue this alternative has been reiterated time and again, as quite a few logging trucks have been responsible for gruesome accidents on the Highway over the years.That call gained momentum after one of the worst fatal accidents involving a logging truck occurred in Linden, killing ten persons, a few years ago.However, despite those calls, logging entrepreneurs continue to use the Highway as their sole transportation route.But only last week, this newspaper observed a ‘log raft’ making its way down the Demerara River with the aid of a boat and outboard engine.For many Lindeners this was a welcome sight, and a few persons acknowledged, “we need more of that” (rafts on the river).Economic benefits.Despite the obvious threat to life and limb that the traversing logging trucks pose, they contribute much needed finances to the Linden Town Council, through the toll collection booth at Kara Kara.Interim Management Committee Chairman, Orrin Gordon, says that the monies accruing from this toll booth, in no way reflects the level of traffic of the logging and container trucks that traverse the Town, not to mention the various businesses that send their trucks from Georgetown to sell various commodities.Speaking with Kaieteur News recently, Gordon said that the monies garnered from the toll booth at the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge far exceed that from the Kara Kara toll booth.He acknowledged that the state of affairs that persists at the Kara Kara facility as it relates to its revenue collection is due to poor management and supervision, and therefore the kind of revenue expected has not been realized.The rebuilt toll booth at the Mackenzie bridge.Gordon said that month after month, reports were received from reliable sources about the number of vehicles that were passing—some 600– but yet the records from the toll booth would reflect just over 100.As it relates to containers that pass through the Town, Gordon said that some days,Alexis Sanchez Arsenal Jersey UK, up to 10 containers pass through Linden but toll records sometimes only reflect one per month. Each 40-foot container has to pay a toll of $5,000, while the 20-foot containers pay half that amount.Gordon said that revenues from the toll booth at Kara Kara alone should be able to take care of wages and salaries for Council workers, including increases, but due to the ‘slackness’, corruption and intransigence, the toll booth is not ‘performing’.New Toll BoothMeanwhile, a spanking new toll booth has replaced the old one at Mackenzie, which was burnt down during the month-long protest in the Town.According to Gordon, the Municipality, apart from operating the toll booth at Kara Kara,Nike Air Max Herren G��nstig, has a joint partnership with the Linmine Secretariat for the management and operation of the toll booth at the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge.He noted that prior to the partnership, the bridge was ‘run’ solely by the Town Council, but after urgent repairs were needed – to the tune of $30M, which the Council did not have – the Linmine Secretariat took the responsibility for the repairs, and subsequently partnered with the Council to recoup the monies spent.That partnership sees the Linmine Secretariat giving to the Town Council 25 percent of toll revenues taken for any given month, plus $300,000 as a ‘gift’, Gordon said.Gordon noted that on a yearly basis, the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge makes anywhere in the vicinity of $50M, and not “billions of dollars” as some people have been claiming.According to Gordon, the booth in Kara Kara has been in existence for some 21 years, and it was established after an order from then Minister of Local Government, Clinton Collymore in 1995.The revenues garnered from the booth were expected to help in developmental works in the town,Jerseys NFL Cheap, especially the maintenance of the roads, Gordon added.However,NFL Jerseys From China, over the years the monies collected from the toll booth have been used for administrative purposes, he acknowledged.The IMC Chairman alluded to the current toll charges which he said have not been revised in almost a decade.Gordon said that logging trucks,Jerseys Wholesale, laden with about ten thousand board measurement of wood, currently pay some $3,000 per truckload, while the minibuses and trucks from Georgetown with merchandise pay a toll of $2,800 and $4,800 respectively. |
