Malanding, I agree with you in the main. However, if a joint venture is needed to run a ferry from Banjul to Barra (8 miles or so) then our problems as a nation are much deeper than we thought. What is going on is mismanagement and having village idiots managing stuff. Why should Senegal be brought in to run a simple ferry? Third, no private venture is needed to tax an already broke population with steep tickets. You bring private enterprise in this and between them and a hungry government for cash, what population can feed that cash hunger? True to form, a disaster will have to happen before the riders themselves wake up. When the ferry sinks, it is not Yaya Jammeh that will sink with it but the riders who for years have been floating in the coffins we call ferries, yet, pretend they have nothing to protest about. Like most things Gambia, these ferries will sink, and then we say Allah gives and Allah takes and the line for Siborou at kanilai to resume. This is one of those great projects that Ebrima and Nana have in mind.

Joe

> Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:08:06 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [G_L] Saving the Gambia's ferry service
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> It is a sad spectacle that another iconic Gambian institution is slowly
> run aground and all we do is to pretend that it not happening. The
> situation with the ferry service is not about lack of passengers willing
> to pay for a ride. It is not about lack of skilled labor to run a
> reliable and safe ferry service in the Gambia, afterall we have done
> that since the early 60s.
> The problem in my view is that of management or lack it. Talking to many
> observers, the system is now being managed by people who at best have no
> idea about what it takes to run a ferry service or simply do not care
> whether we have a working ferry service. It must be clear that a
> competent, reliable ferry service is vital for the Gambia and perhaps as
> important as the telecoms service. The ferry service is the lifeline for
> halfe the country, those in the North Bank to access Banjul and Kombo.
> It can be argued that Farafenni would never have become the regional
> capital had it not been the Bamba Tenda-Yeli Tenda ferry. In addition it
> is one sector where our brothers in Senegal need most from the Gambia
> and will go along way help keep it.
> 
> The situation at hand is clearly unacceptable and it will be great
> tragedy should the government who now controls the ferry service lets it
> continue. During a recent visit (2012) I found two "new" ferries in
> Banjul. These are not the traditional roll-on-one-end roll-off-the-other
> we had since 1970s but of another kind. Because of the difference in
> design, the government has to build new land sites in Banjul and Barra
> for these two. Unfortunately its over 15 months since and these ferries
> arrived and not in service. This begs the question, who in their right
> mind would order the purchase of these ferries knowing fully well that
> the Gambia does not have landing sites or will not have one for
> 18months. Are there any chance these will every run after docking in
> Banjul for over 18 months? Think of what it will take to get them to
> service once the sites are ready? These kind of unplanned, ill-advised
> spending of Gambia's meager resources is not helping.
> 
> For a long-term solution of the problem I will ask that the government
> look into the creation of a public private partnership in the form of
> New York-New Jersey Ports Authority, where the partners are the Gambia,
> Senegal governments and the private sector. it could be a 60-40
> (Gambia-Senegal) ownership if those in Banjul still want a lot of say.
> The governments should become loan guarantors and allow this
> semi-autonomous agency run things. Oh, for those who will say its
> Gambia's I will say lets make it the show-case of regional integration
> something our "Pan-Africanists" would love to see! Or their heart is in
> something else?
> 
> Malanding Jaiteh
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.foroyaa.gm/burning-issues/12663-poor-ferry-services
> 
> POOR FERRY SERVICES
> Published on Wednesday, 13 March 2013 14:03 | Written by Abdoulie G. Dibba
> The Current state of the ferries at both the Bamba Tenda-Yiri Tenda and
> Banjul-Barra ferry crossings hinders the smooth movement of people and
> goods at the said crossing points. This reporter spoke to one Ida Samba
> at Bamba Tenda-Yiri Tenda ferry crossing point on Thursday 7thMarch
> 2013, who was on her return journey to Banjul. She said in her forward
> journey while crossing from Banjul to Barra she was scared to death when
> she boarded the Kanilai ferry on Sunday the 3rd of March 2013. She
> pointed out that when they arrived at Barra, the ferry could not dock at
> the ramp, leaving them with no option but to get down on the river bank
> at their own risk. Madam Samba added: “I was convinced to take the south
> bank road via Soma and I decided to join a transport at Farafenni, but
> to my disappointment I had to spend 8 hours at the Bamba Tenda-Yiri
> Tenda ferry crossing without any sign of crossing due to the long queue
> of vehicles waiting to cross.” According to her, she does not know what
> to do under the circumstances and appealed to the authorities to address
> the situation. A woman vendor who prefers anonymity told this reporter
> that her vegetables she was transporting got spoilt due to the slow
> traffic at the crossing compelling them to spend three days at the
> crossing point. Talking to drivers at the Crossing point, they revealed
> that the slow traffic at the said crossing is as a result of bad ferries
> at the crossing points but not due to any high demand on traffic.
> According to them, there are three ferries namely; Farafenni, Baddibu
> and James Island. These ferries they said often break down and that as
> they were speaking, Farafenni was not operating, leaving only Baddibu
> and James Island in operation. However they said Baddibu is of low
> capacity and once Farafenni or James Island is not operating, smooth
> movement of people would be hindered. Regarding the impact of the lack
> of smooth movement, the Drivers asserted that the slow movement at the
> Crossing points always has negative economic impact on them since they
> would spend more time at the crossing thus compelling them to buy food,
> pay for lodging and buy other basic necessities. All these unplanned
> expenditures, they said, reduce their earnings. Drivers and commuters
> concluded by calling on the ferry authorities to come to their aid
> either by buying new ferries or by refurbishing the old ones, replacing
> the old engines with new ones. This reporter will get in touch with the
> authorities to get their viewpoint.
> 
> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
> at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
> 
> To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
> To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
> [log in to unmask]
> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
                                          

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤