As Festive season gets underway …Lungi Sea Passengers worried over condition of Ferries

By Alie Turay
As the sea transport system continues to go down the drain, commuters are in great fear over the deplorable conditions of the existing ferries plying the Lungi/ Freetown sea routes ahead of the festive season with only two ferries travelling through the Kissy terminal to Lungi Tagrin, which has led to overloading of the ferries.
Many passengers and vehicles were left stranded on Friday, 29th November 2013 due to only one kissy ferry plying the Kissy Lungi axis rather than the usual two 9:00pm ferries after the grounding of the Government Wharf NASSIT ferry.
Abdul Conteh, Osman Kamara and many others were left stranded due to inadequate vehicle space in the last Lungi ferry. All expressed dismay over the inadequate sea transports.
Octavia Lewis a holiday maker told Awoko that she is disappointed with the condition of the ferry, stating that the First Class room in the ferry is the worst she had been in over the fifteen years since she had been out of the country.
Adama Mansaray a business woman who does business on a regular basis across Freetown and Lungi said the lives of passengers is at the mercy of God because the ferry is usually overloaded to a point that most passengers choose to use the local made boats because its faster than the ferry and carries the same risk as the ferry.
However it could be recalled that the Minister of Transport and Aviation Balogun Koroma shortly after his appointment conducted a tour to get a first hand information on the conditions of the existing ferries where he promised Sierra Leoneans that government is committed to bringing in new ferries.
Passengers are now asking when?