The Government will have to pay the operators of the island's toll roads approximately $71 million for the delay in approving the just-implemented increase.

That bill would have been substantially more if there was any further delay.

In fact, calculations by The Gleaner show that the bill would climb by just over $1 million every day the increase was not implemented.

That means the Government would have had to come up with a further $7 million if the toll operators had given the public a one-week notice before the increase took effect.

Based on the toll agreement, the increase should have taken effect on July 1 and was actually applied for in late April.

Sufficient time

This should have allowed the Government sufficient time to complete its consultations and announce the increase long before the due date.

However, it was not until late August that notices were placed in the media, giving the public seven days to comment on the increase request, with the transport minister approving the increase two days after the period for comments closed.

Yesterday, Minister of Transport and Works Mike Henry repeated his claim that, despite signing and gazetting the increase on September 4, he had requested that the toll operator delay its increase while informing the public.

According to Henry, this would not have led to a financial loss to the toll operators as the Government would have picked up the slack for the motoring public.

"For every day that the increase did not take effect, the Government or the taxpayer would have been paying it so it is a matter now of a policy of does-the-user-pay," Henry told the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House yesterday.

According to Henry, he could not dictate a delay in the implementation of the increase based on legal considerations.

Accepted error

While rejecting criticism that he bungled what should have been a simple operation, Henry said the toll operators have accepted that they were wrong.

He said he would meet with the toll operators today to continue discussions which have already started.

"I will meet with them (today) and they will produce an apology which will be published in the print media, and I will discuss with them their offer to roll back or credit motorists," Henry said.

The transport minister has faced criticisms since motorists were greeted with the increase at 12:01 Saturday morning.

Public Defender Earl Witter has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the increases.

"In particular, the notice given to the motoring public of the imposition of the increased toll rates," Witter said.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com