T&T: Tolls are a-coming

Get ready to pay tolls on the new highways which are to  be constructed under the  $2.5 billion highway expansion programme. That is the word coming from Works Minister Franklyn Khan, who has just returned from discussions with IDB representatives in Washington on the funding of the mega-project. “The sting is in the tail,” Khan noted, as he revealed that there  was a strong likelihood that a new form of funding, called concessionaire funding, “which the IDB is pushing very very strongly,” would be used for the project. He said while the paying of such fees was not something this country was accustomed to, that was the way the world was going. “We have to start to look at infrastructure as an investment, and we have to have some sort of return on the investment. It is not 100 percent social service any more,” he said.

If Motilal Moonan builds those roads, not one Trini will pay a cent in tolls!