Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:48 AM
Jan 01, 2010 News
Truckers hauling goods from Georgetown to Mahdia are saying that they are being charged a fee of $3,000 per vehicle for passing a toll gate for a section of the Linden/Lethem road at Mabura even though they are not using that section.
Azad Ally, an enraged representative of the men said that the route to Mahdia leads to a right turn immediately after passing the toll gate at Mabura.
“We don’t have to drive more than a hundred yards past that toll gate to make a right to get to the road leading to Mango Landing and Mahdia and yet they are charging us this fee,” he said.
Ally, of Mahdia, displayed several receipts bearing the name of Demerara Timbers Limited and indicating the sum of $3,000 which he was forced to pay for using such a short section of the roadway.
“They really should be charging people travelling the long route to Lethem not us,” he said.
He said that this fee, added to a $1000 fee for crossing the Demerara River at Linden, plus a $32,000 fee for crossing the Essequibo river with a single axle truck at Mango Landing, was helping to push up operational costs for hauling foodstuffs and other necessities to Mahdia, and was totally unnecessary.
“I always insist that the person at the toll gate who is taking my money, sign the receipts and I have all the receipts. As far as I am concerned the whole thing is a scam. We are calling on the authorities at the Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) which maintains the road, to investigate it and put a stop to it.,” he said.
A minibus driver complained that bus drivers, too, were being forced to pay a toll of $1,000 for negotiating this short stretch of roadway before making a right turn to the route towards the Essequibo River.
A Region Eight official said that he was aware of the situation and he agreed that the charge was unnecessary and unfair.
An official of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) said that he was unaware of the problem but promised to investigate.
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