Several operators under the Transport Augmentation Programme (TAP) this morning parked their vehicles just off the Mighty Grynner Highway to press for outstanding pay and urgent talks with Government.
The operators lamented that payment is sometimes more than three months late and this has been affecting their businesses.
Colvin Yarde, one Public Service Vehicle (PSV) owner told reporters: “We would like to meet with the new Minister of Transport and possibly the Prime Minister so that we can trash out these problems so that we can continue to provide a good service to the travelling public. But we cannot continue to provide a service if we are not being paid and not being paid on time.”
Rodney Bellamy, another member in the programme called on the authorities to provide a “ definite timeframe” for payment to allow operators to better plan their affairs.
“Several persons are not here, their vehicles are broken down and are off their road, and they are victims of this cash flow [problem]. So we want to see an improvement in that [payment], it is not sustainable.”
Another operator, Neville Reid added that there is a need to review the TAP programme and make improvements.
“There is definitely a need for a meeting with the Transport Authority and members of the TAP programme,” he said. (SB)
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Why when ever there is an issue the first thing is to meet with the prime minister. If you haven’t been paid in over 3 months then you should have stopped driving after the 1st month of not being paid.
Well I can’t say, I told u so, but wen ya working private fa government, ya better have a solid foundation, coz their dies take forever to pay ya, yet their got money to give people free visit, pay people who lose coz of curfew fa old year nite, all this money there, but the last administraters left the country broke, yet the most minister the country ever had, getting paid every month.
This made no sense to begin with. You guys got retrenched because there was no money to pay people to begin with so you rightfully took what was yours. You wanted to keep working in what you knew and made an investment. I don’t know what was agreed but chances are you guys on your own. It’s all the same pool of money, financed by the same revenue sources with no real additional sources of income. The IMF topped us up and bought us some time but sooner or later it will be the same thing. You have a right to feel bad because money seems to be getting “shared out” left and right but…