A lot of Gambians have voiced their concern
over the state of the Banjul-Barra ferry crossing terminal.
The conditions have been exacerbated by the
fact that only one of the two ferries has been operational since last Tuesday;
the other one, Johe, is on maintenance.
Fatou Jobarteh, who recently travelled to
the provinces through the ferry, lamented the poor and sluggish condition of
the ferry, saying the new government should do something about ferry crossing
point as soon as possible to ease the pain of Gambians plying the route.
“The entire Gambia is heavily reliant on
the Banjul-Barra ferry crossing point for business endeavours, so I expect the
new government to consider it in their top priorities,” she said.
At the moment, Mrs Jobarteh said, one
cannot ply the route except that you have to encounter numerous unbearable
conditions in the ferries, like sluggish movement and transportation of goods
and services together with overcrowding.
“Both of the ferries are slow, even when
they are all functioning; so now that only one is functioning that makes things
worst here. President Barrow and his new government should seriously find an
alternative or conclusive solution before conditions may give rise to
something.”
One vendor, a native of Fatajo who alighted
from the ferry returning from Badibu, complained that so much time is spent
boarding the ferry, and even more is spent crossing from one end to the other,
as a result of the sluggish movement of the ferry; together with the
inconvenience of too many people in the ferry.
“A lot of people bought tickets, and it
seems there are no limitations to the number of ticket they sell for each
ferry. And when the ferry starts
boarding, all those with tickets would obviously want to board, no matter how
many people there are,” she said.
The present inconvenience at the ferry
crossing point is exacerbated by the ongoing maintenance of Johe, one of the
two ferries plying the Banjul-Barra route.
But the concerns and laments now are the same as before, even when the
two ferries are operating.
