Dear Editor,
I am calling on the Guyana and Suriname governments to put in place a modern boat to service the crossing from Suriname to Guyana. I believe it’s a matter of pride to have a service worthy of our governments and our peoples.
Recently, my wife and I travelled on the Guyana-Suriname ferry accompanied by my four sisters, two from Canada, one from the US, one from the UK and my brother-in-law from Canada. I have no idea if it was always so but the ferry was being propelled by a tug. It commenced raining and we got wet.
In fact, most of the passengers were subjected to sprinkles from the rain. The washroom facilities were primitive. The access road to the ferry at Molsen Creek was potholed and the walkway over in Suriname would damage the wheels of strollers in no time.
When enterprises are owned by governments, they are supposed to run it in the same manner as the private sector would. You commence and then as you develop, you modernise. You employ qualified people to run it.
In addition, I could not understand why the passengers are restrained until all the vehicles drive off the ferry before they are allowed off. Imagine it’s raining and the passengers have to wait until all the vehicles are driven off. In Guyana, the practice is for the passengers to disembark before the vehicles.
Can the administration of the ferry please look into this? Why would you want to subject the passengers to this and present such a picture to the tourists?
This ferry service as it is, reflects very badly on the people of Suriname and Guyana and, of course, on the governments. Come on, we can and should do much better. We need a state-of-the-art ferry.
Yours faithfully,
Rajendra N Bisessar
