Dear Editor,
In a press statement recently Dr Luncheon, the Cabinet Secretary stated that the roll-on/roll-off ferry presently under construction in China will arrive in Guyana next month and will be put into operation on the Supenaam-Parika run, and I write to enquire whether a drawing of the proposed ferry was ever given to the engineering design consultant before commencing structural design work on the stelling.
From my experience working in the Far East the roll-on/roll-off ferry operates differently from the ferry built by Sprostons and presently used in Guyana. Passengers are restricted to entering and exiting from the upper level only, and all vehicles enter from the front of the ferry.
On arrival at its destination vehicles are driven straight out in front onto the wharf, thereby making the turn-around of the ferry system much more efficient and timely. The upper level for the passengers is also designed and built differently.
From the drawing that I have seen on the Internet, the recently constructed Supenaam Stelling is built to discharge vehicles the traditional way from the side of the ferry and not from the front.
I can also assume that you have the same problem at the Parika end, and that no re-construction of this stelling has taken place to cater for this type of ferry. There appears to be no coordination between ministries and another costly mistake could be in the offing.
This type of ferry would have worked admirably for the much shorter Berbice and Georgetown to West Coast runs, and would have eliminated the present siltation experienced in both rivers that has resulted in enormous erosion in the eastern banks of the rivers. The cost also would have been be cheaper. I wrote about this earlier, but the government chose the more expensive floating bridge route for the Berbice run.
I await a response from the Ministry of Works.
Yours faithfully,
M Alli