Berbicians still awaiting return of pontoon service
October 10, 2011 | By KNews.
Commuters who use the Berbice River are accusing Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr. Robeson Benn of breaking a promise he made to them early last July. Minister Benn had met with angry commuters at the Rosignol Ferry Stelling and had promised that the pontoon service would be restored within three months.
Parents and school children have had reservations travelling with the ‘Alford C’, a 115- horsepower speedboat. In June, commuters had staged a protest for the reintroduction of the MB Sandaka Pontoon service, which they said was more reliable and safe.
The speedboat, unlike the pontoon, cannot shuttle all of the school children across to New Amsterdam on one trip. There are about 300 school children who depend on the trip across the river to get to their respective schools.
The Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) had said in July that the “MB Sandaka was replaced by the MV Alford C, a 14- seater speedboat to meet the transportation demands of persons traversing the Berbice River from Rosignol to New Amsterdam”.
“The vessel is fundamentally safe. It was tested out by the engineers from Marais. It has internal bulwarks; an inner transom, it has lifejackets and life- rafts. We understand your anxiety because you are moving from a very large vessel, a very large platform which was very stable and fairly comfortable to transit the river and now you’re suddenly faced in a situation as it were, where you are moving to a small vessel”, Benn told the residents of Region 5 in July.
“When they [the children] go across with that speedboat when the water rough and they go start vomit and when they go home, they can’t study.
This speedboat very bad to these children. Why the government can’t bring back the pontoon or a ferry for the children? If the water rough and one of them foot slide and them drown…it very, very bad”, another protestor said in June.
School has been reopened and almost every single day, there are large groups of commuters waiting to travel across the river. Being dissatisfied with and scared of the speed-boat service, many students and other commuters are now forced to pay the $400 return fare to use the Berbice River Bridge.
When Kaieteur News visited the Rosignol Stelling early Wednesday, there was a crowd of workers and school children waiting their turn to cross in a speedboat that can only accommodate 16 persons at a time.
A little further away from the stelling were several Route 56 minibuses waiting to fetch students across the Eastern side of the river so that they can go to school on time. However, that trip costs each child $200. One commuter said that even though the speedboat starts to work from 06:30 hrs, the last trip leaves after 10:00 hrs, several hours after school commences.
Another commuter said that “the system that is in place is a death trap. I know for one Mr. Benn won’t want his children or grandchild or siblings to use this system.
Workers and school children reach New Amsterdam long after working and school hours each day. All myself and many others can do twice a day is sit at the wharf and look at the [Berbice River] bridge which is only minutes away from our destination”.
“How fair is this to us who can barely survive on a minimum wage and even less—how do parents afford to send their children to school for five days a week? This crime and heartless decision is committed by the very people whose job is to look after our affairs. Who and what Mr. Benn cares for? It seems to be his own interest. This is clear that persons who should be looking after our interest behave as if they’re not obligated to anyone or anything but themselves”, said another angry commuter.
“When will Mr. Benn and the rest of the Ministers ‘up there’ start to show some sort of caring for us down here?” Do we have to protest for our mere survival? Greed has filled the minds of the persons in charge that they are numb to the suffering of those struggling to survive in this country”.
Sources suggest that the Pontoon is now plying the Moleson Creek to Nickerie Suriname passenger service and that the gradual removal of the service and introduction of a speed- boat across the Berbice River is a sign that the authorities may be phasing out the historic pontoon service, privatizing the entire operation and thus closing down the entire stelling, in the near future. Kaieteur News understands that the Alford C broke down several times in the past couple of weeks, causing chaos and a disarray whereby passengers had no choice but to travel with the Berbice River Bridge.
This newspaper has tried on numerous occasions to make contact with officials at the T&HD but they would not speak to the media about the situation.
October 10, 2011 | By KNews.
Commuters who use the Berbice River are accusing Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr. Robeson Benn of breaking a promise he made to them early last July. Minister Benn had met with angry commuters at the Rosignol Ferry Stelling and had promised that the pontoon service would be restored within three months.
Parents and school children have had reservations travelling with the ‘Alford C’, a 115- horsepower speedboat. In June, commuters had staged a protest for the reintroduction of the MB Sandaka Pontoon service, which they said was more reliable and safe.
The speedboat, unlike the pontoon, cannot shuttle all of the school children across to New Amsterdam on one trip. There are about 300 school children who depend on the trip across the river to get to their respective schools.
The Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) had said in July that the “MB Sandaka was replaced by the MV Alford C, a 14- seater speedboat to meet the transportation demands of persons traversing the Berbice River from Rosignol to New Amsterdam”.
“The vessel is fundamentally safe. It was tested out by the engineers from Marais. It has internal bulwarks; an inner transom, it has lifejackets and life- rafts. We understand your anxiety because you are moving from a very large vessel, a very large platform which was very stable and fairly comfortable to transit the river and now you’re suddenly faced in a situation as it were, where you are moving to a small vessel”, Benn told the residents of Region 5 in July.
“When they [the children] go across with that speedboat when the water rough and they go start vomit and when they go home, they can’t study.
This speedboat very bad to these children. Why the government can’t bring back the pontoon or a ferry for the children? If the water rough and one of them foot slide and them drown…it very, very bad”, another protestor said in June.
School has been reopened and almost every single day, there are large groups of commuters waiting to travel across the river. Being dissatisfied with and scared of the speed-boat service, many students and other commuters are now forced to pay the $400 return fare to use the Berbice River Bridge.
When Kaieteur News visited the Rosignol Stelling early Wednesday, there was a crowd of workers and school children waiting their turn to cross in a speedboat that can only accommodate 16 persons at a time.
A little further away from the stelling were several Route 56 minibuses waiting to fetch students across the Eastern side of the river so that they can go to school on time. However, that trip costs each child $200. One commuter said that even though the speedboat starts to work from 06:30 hrs, the last trip leaves after 10:00 hrs, several hours after school commences.
Another commuter said that “the system that is in place is a death trap. I know for one Mr. Benn won’t want his children or grandchild or siblings to use this system.
Workers and school children reach New Amsterdam long after working and school hours each day. All myself and many others can do twice a day is sit at the wharf and look at the [Berbice River] bridge which is only minutes away from our destination”.
“How fair is this to us who can barely survive on a minimum wage and even less—how do parents afford to send their children to school for five days a week? This crime and heartless decision is committed by the very people whose job is to look after our affairs. Who and what Mr. Benn cares for? It seems to be his own interest. This is clear that persons who should be looking after our interest behave as if they’re not obligated to anyone or anything but themselves”, said another angry commuter.
“When will Mr. Benn and the rest of the Ministers ‘up there’ start to show some sort of caring for us down here?” Do we have to protest for our mere survival? Greed has filled the minds of the persons in charge that they are numb to the suffering of those struggling to survive in this country”.
Sources suggest that the Pontoon is now plying the Moleson Creek to Nickerie Suriname passenger service and that the gradual removal of the service and introduction of a speed- boat across the Berbice River is a sign that the authorities may be phasing out the historic pontoon service, privatizing the entire operation and thus closing down the entire stelling, in the near future. Kaieteur News understands that the Alford C broke down several times in the past couple of weeks, causing chaos and a disarray whereby passengers had no choice but to travel with the Berbice River Bridge.
This newspaper has tried on numerous occasions to make contact with officials at the T&HD but they would not speak to the media about the situation.