By: Binta Jaiteh
The Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) and the Gambia Ferry Services Company (GFSC) on Monday updated the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Monitoring the Implementationof Government Projects and Public Enterprises on the ferrysituation.
The Managing Director of GPA, Mr. Ousman Jobarteh, informed the committee that the Kunta Kinteh ferry was due for withdrawal for underwater repairs.
“This craft was commissioned in 2017 and since then, it has never been out of the water for underwater repairs to be done.Engines were changed once in between for five years in service,” he said
He explained the repair of Kunta Kinteh was to last for six weeks, adding that new engines were procured but a delay in receiving the engines hindered the works.
Mr. Jobarteh assured the committee that all the welding works “are near completion and hopefully tomorrow the ferry will be re-floated”.
“After the re-floating, new engines will be installed plus the commissioning, testing and [it will be] finally back to service,” he stated.
On the Kanilai Ferry, MD Jobarteh said that the plan was for the ferry to be redeployed to provide minimal service in the interim.
“Kanilai has a technical issue and it has reached a status where the management decided to withdraw the ferry completely out of service,” he told the committee.
He pointed out that the Kanilai Ferry has an MA-marked engineand that the engine was no longer in the production line.
“A whole re-engineering has to be done on Kanilai and the plan is to install new engines and propulsion system because Kanilaihas a peculiar problem,” said the GPA boss.
He apologized to the general public for the disruption of ferryservices, describing the development as undesirable.
The Director of Finance at GFSC, Ismaila Wadda, informed the committee that since the decoupling of the ferry services from the GPTC, the government has from the year 2000 to date spentover D1.5B on the acquisition of seven to eight ferries.
“With all the investments, it is unfortunate that because of the tariff regime we had, we could not turn around the fortune of the company. We need to have a tariff system that will not only guarantee that we recoup but to make a reasonable amount of profit for the proper maintenance and replacement of the ferries. However, the company is spending a lot,” he informed the committee.
The General Manager of the GFSC, Mr. Abdoulie Tambedou, also gave an update to the committee.