… Moleson Creek Crossing can be reopened if issue resolved
… MB Sandaka available to replace MV Canawaima
Guyana is willing to provide the services of the MB Sandaka to ply the Guyana – Suriname route but this depends on the reopening of the Moleson Creek Crossing. That Crossing remains closed due to the high number of Cubans at South Drain looking to travel to Guyana.
“The Canawaima Ferry Service [and] the Ministry of Public Works, with the support of the Transport and Harbours Department, stands willing and ready at any moment to deploy the MB Sandaka to start to provide service between Guyana and Suriname once we could have the agreement between both sides and the resolution to the problem that developed at South Drain,” Minister Juan Edghill said on Wednesday.
In November, the Government had announced the planned reopening of the Moleson Creek Crossing between Guyana and Suriname for December 12, 2020 but postponed this reopening not long after and indefinitely.
It was revealed that following the announcement of the planned resumption, a number of Cubans gathered at South Drain in Suriname waiting to travel to Guyana which caused much concern for the Guyana Government. Attorney General Anil Nandlall said that the Cubans, about 1,000 of them, were “attempting to cross illegally”.
Asked whether there are any new timelines for reopening, Edghill said: “That is going to be discussed and determined at the diplomatic level. We had established a date in December. That was shifted because of the Cuban caravan that was assembled at the border and [we’re] looking for a diplomatic solution as to how we can deal with that.”
The MV Canawaima, which originally serviced the route, is currently being repaired in Paramaribo, Suriname. It was agreed that both countries would share the cost for the repairs of the vessel and Guyana had hoped that the MB Sandaka would replace it.
Minister Edghill said that there is no impediment to reopening the Moleson Creek Crossing as it relates to the ferries but a decision must be made about the gathering of Cubans at South Drain.
