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#470090 08/13/13 04:55 AM
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 84,397
Marty Offline OP
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Commuters to and from the villages of Progresso, Copper Bank, Chunox, Little Belize, Sarteneja, including developments as Progresso Shores, Progresso Heights, Cerros Sands, Orchid Bay, etc. will be inconvenienced by the closure of the ferry service commencing today Tuesday, August 13th, 2013. No official notice has been given to the general public by Public Works but operators of the Corozal/Progresso ferry have confirmed to us that they will be commencing repair works on the top of the badly decayed deck. The Corozal Daily has received numerous complaints of the ferry being unsafe to both human and vehicular traffic and people have been reported falling in and getting severely hurt in some of the crevices and holes that exist, especially at night.


Damage to existing deck of the Corozal/Progresso ferry

Commuters to and from these areas including those in Corozal Town will have to take the long ride down to Orange Walk up through San Estevan and up to these villages. While this inconvenience may take as long as two to three weeks similar work is underway on the Copper Bank/Chunox ferry.


Copper Bank/Chunox ferry under repairs

Yesterday morning the Corozal Daily was on site to follow on the progress there and the supervisor told us that work is scheduled to be completed for that ferry perhaps mid week next week. The closure of this ferry has been on-going for over a month now and commuters from Chunox, Sarteneja, Orchid Bay have had to use the cut-off road to Progresso Village through Little Belize.


Dismantled Copper Bank/Chunox ferry

Courtesy: Corozal Daily (�Sometimes)

Marty #470158 08/14/13 05:25 AM
Joined: Oct 1999
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Pueblo Nuevo Ferry To Undergo Repairs

The repair of the Pueblo Nuevo Ferry in the Corozal District was set to commence today but CTV3 News understands that the date for repairs to commence has been changed to Monday August 19th. This means that commencing Monday commuters to and from Corozal Town, the Villages of Progresso, Copper Bank, Chunox, Little Belize and Sarteneja will have to take the long route through Orange Walk to reach their destination. We understand that repairs could take as long a month to be completed.

The first section of the ferry which will be repaired is the top of the badly corroded deck which has proven to be a hazard for commuters especially at night. We understand that similar work is underway on the Copper Bank/Chunox Ferry.

The Pueblo Nuevo Ferry was opened over a decade ago, on April 15th 2000 to be exact, under the Peoples United Party. While work is set to commence on August 19th the Ministry of Works is yet to issue an official release on the matter.

CTV3


Marty #470321 08/16/13 05:35 AM
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 84,397
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Ferry in Corozal closes and villagers suffer miles of consequences

The Ministry of Works is currently rehabilitating the Copper Bank/Chunox Ferry in the Corozal district. Normally that would be good news, but residents of the communities of Sarteneja, Progresso, Chunox and Copper Bank who use the ferry to get to Corozal Town say they were given no warning. They are now forced to travel south to Orange Walk Town on bad roads, and then by highway in the other direction back to Corozal Town. And if that isn't bad enough, the Ministry of Works says it will shortly be closing the larger Pueblo Viejo ferry for repairs. And that closure will be for months, as opposed to weeks. It's an unfortunate and almost unacceptable situation for commuters between the affected communities and Corozal Town. But C.E.O. in the Ministry of Works, Errol Gentle, says unfortunate - YES, but it is absolutely necessary.

Errol Gentle, C.E.O., Ministry of Works

Errol Gentle

"You could imagine having a ferry in the river for quite some while and no maintenance is done�there is corrosion. In some places there might be holes in the ferry. So for the safety of the vehicles, for the safety of people - we have to ensure that we save lives - from time to time we need to do maintenance on the ferry. We have been doing some surface maintenance but it's time now that we actually take the ferries out of the water and address whatever problems exist under the surface of the ferry. On the surface if you see some of the running boards have been replaced, the approaches to both of the ferries will be fixed. The cable that holds the ferry together will be replaced and the actual flotation part of the ferry - the actual metal part which has holes in some areas - in order for us to repair them that has to be taken out�you need to cut out the rotten part and weld in new metal sheet onto the ferry. The first one took a little bit longer than we thought. We were expecting like a month or a month and a half but it took a bit longer. And the second ferry we will be working on is the bigger ferry so certainly it will take much longer. But the concerns of the villagers were that the ferry would be taken out and there would be no consideration for movement of passengers and movement of vehicles so we will be looking into that as well and do whatever is possible to ensure that there will be free flow of traffic."

News Five spoke to teachers from Sarteneja who told us that they have been unable to attend teaching workshops in Corozal Town as a result of the ferry closure.

Channel 5


Marty #470618 08/20/13 05:26 AM
Joined: Oct 1999
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Work On The Pueblo Nuevo Ferry Gets Under-way

Work on the Pueblo Nuevo Ferry in the Corozal District commenced this morning at 9:00pm. The ferry, which was in dire need of maintenance, links Corozal Town to Villages located in Corozal Southeast such as Chunox, Copper Bank and Progresso.

After more than a decade of being in use, the deck of the ferry and other sections has corroded and has proven to be a hazard for commuters especially at night.

Today when we visited the area the ferry was indeed undergoing repairs. As we spoke to Emil Cano, Assistant District Technical Supervisor, he told us off camera that repairs were being carried out in portions between normal working hours which are from 8:00am to 5:00pm.

According to Cano, the reason why the project is being carried out in such a manner is to facilitate commuters, especially students and workers who find the need to use the ferry after 5:00pm and before 8:00am.

Repairs are expected to be completed in one month's time.

CTV3



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