THE Ministry of Public Works will commence restoration of a limited ferry service on the Berbice River from April, Minister Roberson Benn has disclosed.He said last week that the service would initially be limited because most of the stellings along the banks of the Berbice River had fallen to pieces and would have to be constructed or re-constructed before the ferry can operate effectively.

During a 2014 debate in Parliament, Minister Benn had said that the ferry service had been removed years ago, after efforts to move the economy on the Berbice River went down, and people had gradually moved out of the communities.

“There had been nothing to bring out on the boat,” he had said, but had however acknowledged even then that, with agriculture and forestry activities ongoing in the area and a return of residents in recent times, it was time to re-introduce the service.

The minister disclosed last week that the stellings would be restored progressively, with the intention of eventually providing the service as far south as Ebini, a distance approximately eighty miles from New Amsterdam. This stretch is which is likely to have the most commuters.

“This is the intention,” he said, adding that work for restoration of the sorely missed service would start by the beginning of the second quarter of 2015.