On November 3, local Suriname news outlet Star Nieuws reported that following a work action staged by ferry operators servicing the high-traffic Paramaribo-Meerzorg water route earlier this week, national Transport, Communication and Tourism Minister Raymond Landveld convened an emergency consultation at the Office of the President on Tuesday to address the sector’s long-running unmet demands. During the closed-door session, ferry operator representatives laid out their core pain points to ministerial leadership and presidential cabinet delegates, highlighting that passenger fares on the route have not been adjusted since 2023, even as operating costs have climbed steadily in the intervening period. All parties reached a formal agreement to develop a fully transparent, auditable calculation framework that accounts for every verifiable operating cost component to determine a fair, justified new fare rate, with Minister Landveld mandating that the full process be completed and a draft proposal finalized within 14 days. Once drafted, the proposal will be submitted to President Jennifer Simons for final review and formal approval. Presidential cabinet representative Edgar Dikan, speaking via the national Suriname Communication Service, confirmed that all stakeholders are committed to collaborative problem-solving, with targeted measures to strengthen long-term coordination between the ferry operators’ governing board and the Transport Ministry to prevent future impasses. Beyond fare adjustments, the consultation also addressed two additional pressing priorities: targeted fuel price relief for operators, which will be aligned with existing support schemes applied to other land and maritime transport sectors, and requires further inter-agency coordination with the Ministry of Finance and Planning to secure funding and formalize rules. A dedicated inter-departmental committee will also be established immediately to clear the months-long backlog of ferry operating license renewal applications, with a mandate to track down misplaced documentation and streamline cross-agency administrative workflows to cut processing times. Government officials and ferry operator representatives have stated that the full package of agreed measures is designed to safeguard the long-term continuity of affordable, reliable public water transport between the two densely populated communities, though no final binding decisions on new fares or fuel compensation payouts have been issued to date.