the essential
This Thursday afternoon, elected officials from Lot-et-Garonne met on the left bank of the Lot for the inauguration and official start-up of the Fumel dam ferry. A historic moment for navigation in the Lot valley, and especially for the Fumélois which sees the start of a new economic windfall.
Slowly but surely, the Gabarre Fuméloise rises into the air. This is not a towing operation, but what his daily life could well look like in the weeks to come. Docked upstream of the hydroelectric dam, it is literally lifted by the ferry, this innovative tool put in place by the Department of Lot-et-Garonne. Once the barge is in the air, the machine begins to roll on the track. In barely ten minutes, she delicately places the boat in the airlock downstream of the dam, 6 meters below.
DDM GB
On foot, dozens of them admire the technical prowess and follow the progress of the machine with its boat floating in the air. At the head of the procession, the president of Lot-et-Garonne Sophie Borderie, accompanied by her Lot counterpart Serge Rigal and the man who worked to realize this project, Daniel Borie. Not a little proud, the mayor of Saint-Vite, to see a boat pass this dam by land. “An original but approved solution” applauded Sophie Borderie. The dam, since its construction at the end of the Second World War, prevented the river from being navigable. It is now a distant memory.
Economic activity from 2025
Another elected official to rejoice at the commissioning of this ferry is the mayor of Montayral. Because yes, it is of course this town that tourists traveling from Luzech to Aiguillon will pass through, or vice versa. “I hope for traffic jams in the airlocks” smiles Jean-François Ségala, who foresees the construction of the building for rentals, wintering and repair of boats “at the beginning of 2025”. This is a new economic activity available in the Fumélois basin. “It’s a moment that marks the history of the Lot valley, like Camélat for Agen a few weeks ago,” continued President Borderie. “Water is the strength of our department,” she says. Electric and promoting virtuous tourism, this ferry ticks all the boxes of “respectful and sustainable uses” that the Department promotes. The pleasure boats are expected in the coming weeks, time to clear the last rocky obstacles downstream of the dam, something which could not be done before since the Lot, too watered by the rain, had not descended to the correct level. level for 6 months.
