SIMA working with ships to carry thousands of voters home & back

ELECTION CORNER: With thousands of people planning to head to the provinces for the elections, the Solomon Islands Maritime Authority says it will work with shipowners to move the voters and also it will monitor safety and capacity of the boats.

Director of Solomon Islands Maritime Authority Thierry Nervale said: “We work in partnership with the ship operators from Honiara to the provinces and back and to ensure that schedules are published and people know when to book their trip and go back home.”

On charters, he said, charterers will have to deal directly with the ship operators. And it is their responsibility to deal with safety and ensure only rightful numbers of passengers are carried.

Often during elections, ships usually carry more people than the required number of passengers and take-off at more than one location from SIPA.

Nervale said his officers would carry out their normal operations just like during the peak periods to ensure safety and capacity (passenger numbers) are controlled.

“We will have our people on the ground to control passenger movements especially for charters,” he said.

The election takes place on 17^th April. It will be the first time that the National Parliament members, provincial and HCC politicians will be elected at any one time.

Nervales said on capacity, there are enough boats to carry people to the provinces.

He said people only need to plan the movements of their voters because it is impossible to transport everyone in the final day for the elections. Instead, he said they are working with ship owners to make schedules available to carry passengers well ahead of the elections.

“We are working with them to publish their schedules to help with people to move to the provinces and return,” he said.

There are currently between 60 to 70 passenger boats that are registered with SIMA. In addition to that, there are also barges and tugboats, totaling up to around 150 registered boats with SIMA.