In a move to ensure safety on the rivers and waterways, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) has officially opened a Maritime Safety centre at Bartica.
The project was initially launched when the government mandated MARAD to seek urgent measures to improve the, “safe use of the rivers in this community as a number of river related accidents seem to be a weekly occurrence”, MARAD Director of Safety John Flores stated.
MARAD Director General Claudette Rogers said that after analyses of accident reports on the small boats accidents, it was decided by the agency to urgently address the situation. The reports found that the primary causes were speeding, recklessness, negligence, no proper look out, non-conformance with safety standards, lack of knowledge for the international regulations for preventing collisions at sea, behaviour issues and traditions, operating under the influence, overloading, unseaworthy boats, unlicensed boats, uncertified operators, and poor maintenance of machinery.
MARAD, she said, has since enhanced boat designs. Boats now have a superstructure and improved buoyancy compartments. Maritime safety centres have also been established in Bartica, Charity and Mabaruma. Rogers further noted, according to GINA, that, “Wherever there are boats, you want to have centres”. The next area that will be targeted is Berbice.
The office was given to the agency free of cost by the regional administration, Flores noted. Rogers said that other initiatives to be taken are the suspension of boat licences, reduction of horse power in engines, examining age limits of the operators and the expansion of the educational safety programmes at schools.
