Realising the Economic Benefits of the new North-South Highway in Jamaica: An Open Letter to the new Minister of Transport

Dear Hon Minister Henry

Welcome back to your Ministerial post and congratulations on your electoral success with the Jamaican people. Let me thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the public consultation regarding the determination of toll fees for the North-South highway in Jamaica. Also congratulations to the CHEC and its workers on  completing this, one of the most important transport infrastructure investment projects that Jamaica has made since independence. 

Yes individual motorists and drivers  will do their own personal calculations to see how the benefits of using the highway (reduced petrol consumption, reduced wear and tear on their vehicle, value of their time saved etc.) trades off against the costs of them using it (the toll charge primarily). Some may need to be "sold" on this perspective !!

Then the operator of the toll road has the economic forecast calculations to do, about getting the highest number of users possible for each hypothetical fare level.

So how do we square these different and conflicting interests?

WELL I believe the FINAL determination of the toll rates charged must be done such that it results in the COUNTRY as A WHOLE economical benefitting from the FULL usage of this investment asset. And fortunately there is modern technology available, through vehicle e-tags (like SUN PASS in the USA and Congestion Zone charging in the UK), which can introduce THE NECESSARY element of PRICE DIFFERENTIALS in the toll charging principles applied.

Through the use of such technology, frequent users can have a reduced charge structure which declines for each time the toll is used. Or they could have an annual or weekday pass. Tourist based operators can be distinguished from local commuters by vehicle coding. Time of day usage charges can be made variable to encourage the heavy goods to travel during the night for example. Week day rates could be made different to weekend rates separating the principle "business" from "leisure" users.

If this was not incorporated in the original design of the highway toll operation IT SHOULD BE DONE NOW - even if it means a little more investment in the technology required - number plate recognition cameras, registered database users, e-tags (apparently there is evidence of this already in place)!! 

Fortunately for indicative purposes, there will be some real life data available - the historical toll income and actual vehicle usage of the initial "middle" leg of this highway (opened over a year ago) should be available and can be analysed to provide some basis for determining the differential toll prices.

The highway has the potential to open up considerable economic benefits when considered in the wider national context and so the setting of the toll charges should PRMARILY be dictated by this factor. If such strategic value had not been thought of prior to its design and commissioning then this is a remarkable underachievement in government performance - irrespective of whichever party it was.

By this I mean, for example, the potential to develop corridors of commuter developments - properly planned and developed.

Most importantly the linking of the 2 significant diverse economies of the metropolitan capital of Kingston and the tourist sector - Ocho Rios, cruise ship traffic and others - with create synergies and opportunities - where the resultant ECONOMIC TOTAL BENEFIT is greater than the sum of the individual parts. This facilitator of innovation is a key to GROWING the country's economy.

There are also many important intangibles which will accrue - from experience elsewhere - such as less pollution, less environmental damage, more efficient use of vehicles, transportation time savings to companies, probably fewer road accidents and deaths than on winding roads.

Indeed our company, Newer Worlds, is already developing initiatives and investment projects which leverages this new economic dynamic and paradigm shift for commercial interests.

In the majority of cases worldwide, large scale transportation infrastructure projects DO NOT get fully paid for ONLY by the direct users - that is to say, in this case, the motorists.

It usually requires a subsidy by the Government - that is to say ALL TAXPAYERS eventually contribute towards part of its CAPITAL cost recovery - one way or another. (Maintenance of the physical asset - its operational cost - is another matter and these two different cost components should be considered separately).

What we DON'T want to happen is to see an investment project asset languishing due to under-utilisation through low usage by the public. Jamaica has already lost YEARS of economic development by NOT having appropriate 21st century infrastructure (old transport links, high electricity charges etc) and also by having had this same asset sit idle for many years, incomplete, until the Chinese came along and finished the job.

Jamaica has a lot of economic development to catch up on - so let us harness the potential of this national asset to its fullest with a proper DIFFERENTIAL toll charge structure APPLIED with the benefit of modern technology.