Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 18, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Guyanese like to boast that we live in the land of many waters. Historically, waterways have served as important sources of transportation, both for goods and people.
Guyana is today faced with long, maddening traffic jams to get into the city. Unfortunately, infrastructure cannot keep apace with the growth in vehicular traffic. Roads cannot be built fast enough and large enough to cater for the increase in the number of vehicles using our roadways.
In fact, roads are now taking longer to build than expected, because of problems with the things that are buried underneath the roads. Roads are costly and require expensive maintenance. Our roads are also dangerous; scores die each year on our roads and injuries and damage also have to be factored in when assessing the social costs of building roads.
Waterways, on the hand, require little or no maintenance. And so it needs to be asked why it is that greater attention is not being paid to using the Demerara River to help ease the traffic congestion on the East Bank Public Road where the bulk of the obstruction exists.
Water taxis have been around for a long time in many parts of the world. In Trinidad and Tobago, there is a water taxi service that ferries passengers on a daily basis between San Fernando and Port of Spain. It saves persons the hassles of commuting by roads, which in that country’s traffic would take hours. It is a relatively cheap service and one that gets hundreds to work on time from long distances.
The bulk of our traffic problem is two-fold. Firstly, there is the heavy vehicular traffic from West Demerara. Secondly, there is the traffic from a large housing scheme, Diamond/Grove on the East Bank of Demerara.
The main problem is the heavy vehicular traffic from West Demerara which clogs up the East Bank Public Road between Providence and Ruimveldt. The congestion can be eased through a well-thought out plan utilizing the Demerara River for the movement of passengers across the river.
Speedboats plying the Vreed-en-Hoop/Stabroek route do brisk business every day, collectively moving thousands of passengers each day. But that has not impacted at all on the traffic congestion, because there are still thousands of passengers who do not wish to have their clothes crumpled or to be climbing in and out of a boat to get across the river. Many others live far away from the crossing and therefore it is more convenient to use other means of public transport.
Each speedboat can move on average about twenty persons and therefore it will require twenty-five speedboats to move five hundred persons across the river in fifteen minutes. But since all of them cannot dock at the same time, you have to add docking time to this, to appreciate how long it takes to move a mere one thousand passengers each day.
A water taxi on the other hand is capable of moving about five hundred passengers. With proper docking facilities, it should not take any longer than it would take a speedboat. It has to be fast and it has to be able to dock and off-load passengers quickly.
It is something that should be looked at, especially in the context of Guyana securing US$50M from India to build an alternate road linking the East Bank to the East Coast. India is also going to supply a ferry for use on the North West route.
It is doubtful whether that alternate road will make a big difference. The growth in housing development and vehicular traffic is too great. By the time that road is completed the number of vehicles using the east Bank Road is going to double.
Guyana should be looking at its waterways as a solution to the traffic problem. There is need for a fast, reliable and modern water taxi service across the Demerara River.
Why spend US$50M when the same money can be invested in a water taxi service, one that will have a greater impact than an alternate road?
This water taxi service should not be run by the government. Instead, the government should invite a consortium of private investors to provide this service which the government should subsidize by offering concessions and use of the facilities of the Transport and Harbours Department. And please, keep NICIL out of this.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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