Praslin car hire operators discuss their involvement and place in new BSA jetty passenger terminal |29 December 2022

As work on the new Baie Ste Anne Praslin jetty passenger terminal nears completion, car hire operators on Praslin gets the opportunity to discuss their involvement and place in this very important project for the island.

Currently, car hire operators, a very important stakeholder in the tourism industry on this tourism driven island, do not have a designated spot on the passenger terminal. They therefore offer their services in the car park area at the mercy of the weather or other factors. A practice which they hope will be improved in the new passenger terminal with an appropriate spot for them, ensuring that they provide a more professional and comfortable service to visitors.

It was the director for Business Development, Vincent Didon, and Project Implementation Deputy Director Dean Zelime from the Seychelles Ports Authority (SPA) who guided the operators around the new passenger terminal building with focus on the proposed spot for kiosks to host the operators.

SPA was proposing the setting up of six kiosks in the arrival area that could be used by operators for more comfortable welcoming of their guests and preparation of rental documents.

The meeting aimed to discuss on how best to proceed with allocation of the kiosks and hear the views of the operators on the best way forward.

A dynamic and enthusiastic group of operators were present to share their concerns and ideas in the most constructive manner.

It was unanimously agreed that instead of six kiosks, a desk be set up which could accommodate any operator and give opportunity to maximum operators at a time. This shall be at a fee and one of the operators, Peter Pomeroy, offered to sponsor the desk which shall be beneficial to all interested operators.

SPA will now bring this recommendation back to the table for further discussions and shall revert early next year.

The passenger terminal building and designated parking areas adjacent to it is expected to open its doors in the first quarter of 2023.

Concerns raised were mainly around parking, proper labelling and avoiding congestion around the terminal area.

SPA gave its commitment in ensuring to not replicate any of the negative aspects of the current terminal in this new one.

One of the operators, Alex Simon from Pisces Car Hire, shared his impression of the meeting. “Today’s meeting was constructive in many ways. We realised a lot of weaknesses but constructively we gave our inputs to help improve them. Since our use of the structure itself is temporary and further developments will come along, we can only hope we will be included and consulted in the future. All in all it was productive.”

On his part the liaison officer for Praslin, Vincent Cedras, who was also present, called on the operators to come together with collective cooperation and ensure a better service is offered to guests visiting the island in a smooth and orderly manner.

To note, this is Phase 1 of the Baie Ste Anne passenger terminal development; Phase 2 is expected to include a bigger and more specialised passenger terminal building and parking areas which shall all be incooporated in the ‘Kato Nwanr’ development project.

The accompanying photos show the operators and SPA officials during their tour of the new passenger terminal building at Baie Ste Anne.

Text: Nadia Bedier

Photos: Romano Laurence