The Ferry Services Limited is responsible for the transportation of passengers and goods between Barra and Banjul.
There have been plans to ensure efficient and effective services to enable people residing in the North to access schools, work places and businesses on either side of the bank, especially Banjul and environ.
The recent break down of all the ferries led to the use of boats by residents on either side of the bank leading to unsightly and disgraceful view of young men carrying travellers from the boats on their shoulders to prevent their uniforms and clothes from getting wet.
For over five decades, work has not been done for the boats to dock and allow cargoes to discharge and passengers to alight. The ferry services should have been transformed into a management service for the Senegambia Bridge which would have enabled them to realise up to 180 million dalasi, relying on figures given by the minister of works and construction, Mr Lamin Jobe, in 2020. This would have enabled the company to support the ferry services in order to prevent such break downs.
The government should strongly review the role of the ferry services and its means of income if the recent crisis in its operation is to be averted.
