Several vehicle owners and passengers who were on the Saturday morning ferry heading to Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) were left stranded on the ferry after the ramp at Good Hope/Supenaam developed a problem.
Most of those vehicle owners had perishable items in their possession.
According to information reaching Guyana Times
A section of the Good Hope/Supenaam Stelling
, the ferry arrived at the Good Hope /Supenaam Stelling at about 7:30h, and began offloading passengers and vehicles. In that offloading process, problems developed with a truck and the ramp when there were yet almost 15 other vehicles to be discharged, hence those vehicles were left stranded.
According to a businessman, the ramp at the Supenaam Stelling had developed a problem over 6 months ago, and despite several complaints having been made to the Transport and Harbours Dept, the problem has not been addressed.
The businessman said the ramp has sunk by approximately six feet, making it difficult for heavy duty vehicles to be discharged from the ferry.
“The ramp has a problem. It drop far below (the side of the ferry), and the trucks (are fetching) thousands of tonnes. This makes the problem worse. The ramp is also damaging other persons’ vehicles, but no one seems to care,” the businessman has said.
Another businessman who was on the boat with perishable items in his vehicle said the truck was removed two hours later, and passengers disembarked the ferry at about 9:30h.
Many persons were reportedly losing patience with officers of the Transport and Habours Department for allegedly acting very unprofessionally.
Passengers and business owners are therefore calling on Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson to pay careful attention to the stelling, and to fix the faulty ramp.
The ferry service is used by hundreds of passengers, since it’s cheap and safe compared to speed boats. Many persons and all vehicles use the ferry to travel to Georgetown to conduct business.
