Officials of Banque Sahélo-Saharienne pour l’Investissement et le Commerce (BSIC), has unveiled plans and its readiness to open three new branches in the Central River Region (CRR).
This revelation was made on Tuesday, 1st December, 2020 by Musa Kijera, Director of Administration and Human Resource BSIC at the ongoing Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting at Central River Region, Gambia.
The BSIC Senior Official revealed that the Bank has finalised plans to open three new branches in the region with a view to ameliorate the suffering of thousands of residents of CRR who travel some miles to other regions for the purpose of banking transactions.
“It’s very unfortunate that there is no Bank in the whole Central River Region and with the coming of the new financial path carved by the government there is a serious need for people of this region to have a bank.
“This is the reason why BSIC being the people’s bank want to make banking transactions much easier to the people of CRR,” BSIC Admin Director disclosed.
According to him, a lot of civil servants including teachers, nurses and businessmen have on several occasions appealed to the BSIC to open a branch in the region.
However, he noted that an office has already been allocated by the Governor of the region Sheriff Abba Sanyang to set the ball rolling.
“Aside from Janjanbureh we have identified two other places including Niani and Fulladu. Opening three branches at a go maybe too ambitious but this is something that is long overdue in CRR, where the entire region has no single bank,” Kijera noted.
According to him, the opening of this BSIC Branches in CRR will also go a long way to address the plight and concern of many civil servants who travel kilometres to Bansang, Farrafenni or Soma for their banking activities. The hours, he said, spending to travel to these places will be shortened to only one hour for residents of CRR once BSIC activities comes into full force.
“We believe the opening of these Banks will add value to the lives and livelihoods of the people of this region. Without doubt, we strongly believe we will be able to get a good start as we are here to serve the people of this region,” Kijera told The Voice Newspaper.
Saihou Jawara Chairman, Kuntaur Area Council applauded the bank for having such a plan for the region, arguing that it is unfair for an entire region like CRR to be left without a single Bank.
“We are very happy for such a development for this region because as authorities, we are always concern with our businessmen travelling with money to and from other region. We want to welcome BSIC wholeheartedly as the people of this region have been yearning for a bank for many years without heed,” Chairman Jawara disclosed.
He called on all civil servants and businessmen to make good use of the opportunity that will save both time and resources in executing Bank transactions.