Act being amended to give NRA an extra $4m for operating costs Loop Cayman Islands

Black Immigrant Daily News

The National Roads Authority (NRA) is expected to get another four million dollars for its coffers this quarter once the National Roads Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022 passes into law.

This extra four million dollars will be taken from the Road Fund, a fund controlled by core government which accumulates all fuel import duties charged, collected and paid under the Customs Tariff Act on gasoline and diesel used by motor vehicles (excluding fuel import duties for diesel consumed by Caribbean Utilities Company) and all fees collected and paid under the Traffic Regulations on motor vehicle drivers’ licences.

Since core government controls the Road Fund, it is for the Cabinet to authorise any transfer of a restricted sum from the Road Fund to the NRA as revenue to help the NRA cover its annual operating cost, in particular, the construction, upgrading, rehabilitation and maintenance of public roads.

Regarding this, the outgoing NRA board chairman explained that “The extra funding is important because, without it, it will be a challenge for the NRA to meet its operating costs this year.”

The outgoing board chairman continued: “For full disclosure… so that members of the public can understand, what is considered ‘revenue’ for the NRA is the limited sum that is allocated to the NRA from the Road Fund, any road user charges collected by the NRA, gifts or bequests received by the NRA, other monies paid and property provided to the NRA by way of grants, rent, interest and other income derived from the investment of the NRA’s funds, monies derived from the disposal of or dealing with real or personal property held by the NRA, monies borrowed by the NRA in accordance with the NRA Act and any property lawfully received or made available to the NRA.”

The outgoing board chairman confirmed, however, that, so far, NRA’s revenues have been comprised mainly of the limited allocations from the Road Fund and not other options available under the NRA Act.

Regarding the other options for raising revenue under the NRA Act, the outgoing board chairman said that “Given the high cost of living in Cayman, I don’t think it would be in the public’s interest to implement options available to the NRA that will further increase the cost of living, for example, through road user charges.”

And, yes, it is true that there is a controversial topic that is never discussed publicly… that utility providers generally utilize the public roads for free and then charge consumers for the services they provide. However, if the NRA decided to implement a fee payable by those utility providers to the NRA, I am not sure whether the utility providers would simply absorb the costs and not pass the costs onto consumers. If such costs were passed onto consumers, then it would make the financial struggle, and other matters, worse for the public as whole.

The outgoing board chairman explained.

Given the conundrum faced with exploring additional revenue raising options outside the limited amounts available from the Road Fund, the NRA will have to find a way to make the extra four million dollar injection work to cover ongoing operating costs, costs which the outgoing board chairman suspects may exceed the total injections for the year.

Notwithstanding these and other challenges, the outgoing board chairman says that he gives credit to Minister Jay Ebanks for his approach as a leader, always taking the time to address the NRA’s concerns in his capacity as Minister for Infrastructure, being professional and constantly suggesting ways that the NRA can improve.

Alric Lindsay, outgoing NRA board chairman (steps down November 30)

NewsAmericasNow.com