By: Mama A. Touray
At the monthly press conference organized by the Ministry of Information, the Managing Director of the Gambia Ports Authority, Ousman Jobarteh, stated that the extent of repairs needed for the Kanilai ferry has far exceeded their expectations, though he remains hopeful it will be operational by March 2025.
Jobarteh shared this update at the press conference held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center in Bijilo.
“The Kanilai ferry is undergoing major repairs and is currently at the Banjul shipyard. We had initially expected it to be operational by now, but we realized that the extent of work needed for repairs far surpassed our expectations. Once the ferry was dried up and the metalways were stripped, we noticed that the submerged portion of the ferry was mostly fabricated parts,” he said.
He continued, “What we observed was significant erosion in almost all the longitudinal and transverse sections in the bottom area. This requires extensive repairs, but we are hopeful that by the end of the month, the commissioning engineer will be on the ground, and by March 2025—which may seem far away but is not really so—the ferry should be back in service.”
Jobarteh added that currently, only the Kunta Kinteh ferry is available to provide service between Banjul and Barra.
