Kebba Ansu Manneh
The Gambia Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretariat in collaboration with Ministry of Works and the National Roads Authority on Wednesday signed contracts worth fifty million dollars ($50million) with various foreign and local construction companies.
The contracts for the construction of 50km totaling to 20 roads within the Kanifing Municipality and West Coast Region is part of preparation towards the hosting of the next OIC Summit that is expected to be hosted in the country next year.
Speaking at the signing ceremony that took place at Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre, Bai Lamin Jobe Minister of Works, disclosed that the urban roads construction occupies very important position in the activities of the government.
He also stated that there is lot of roads construction in the province but due to high concentration of people and infrastructures within West Coast and Greater Banjul, roads construction connected to the OIC Summit could not take place.
According to him, the construction of the urban roads has been a top priority of the government since 2017, adding that the earmarked projects once completed will go a long way in addressing the concerns of the citizenry especially commuters.
“I want to thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for giving us this $50million grant for us to address the construction of twenty roads within West Coast and the Greater Banjul Area. The construction of these 50km roads of 20 key roads will help to decongest the traffic,” Minister Bai Lamin Jobe pointed out.
According to him, the project is divided into two components that is Lot 1 and Lot 2 given to both foreign and local construction companies, revealing that Lot-1 will includes the New Jeswang–Jokor Junction, Kanifing hospital–Berthil Hardings road, Westfield junction—Abuko road, Sukuta- Latrikunda road, Junction Baa–SOS road, Sukuta Health Center–Senegambia road, Kololi–Senegambia road, Kanifing hospital–GTMI road and Banjul-Serrakunda highway.
He added that Lot-2 roads which is 28km roads will includes Kololi Tavern—Bijilo road, Bijilo–Berthil Harding highway, Sukuta Nemasu–Latrikunda road, Sukuta–Wellingara road, Kombo Coastal Highway–Wulinkama road and Brufut—Ghana Town road.
According to hi, the duration of the roads construction will last for 14months, revealing that $20.9million is earmarked for the construction of the Lot-1 roads, while $20.4million is earmarked for the construction of Lot-2 roads.
He called for vigilance and understanding from the contractors as they will be working under very difficult conditions and areas, adding that contractors will be facing various challenges including congestion, traffic disruption that demands serious traffic management technics.
For his part, Yankuba Dibba, Chief Executive Officer of OIC-Gambia Secretariat emphasized that his institution remains focus, committed and on tract to accomplishing the goals and objectives of its mandate in actively manner.
He noted that if everything goes on as planned OIC-Gambia would have gone far with the implementation of projects and the summit preparations.
“Apart from the delays caused by Covid-19, bureaucracy issues were also our major setbacks. We are obligated by law to follow our own national procurement laws as well as donor financing regulations which require donor approval through every major milestone,” he said as he outlined reasons for the delays of the project.
“We are happy that we are now moving into the operational and execution stage of our project implementation. I wish to reassure the public that the secretariat will leave no stone unturned in going extra steps to make The Gambia proud at the world stage.” Dibba pointed out.
Momodou Senghore, Managing Director, National Roads Authority (NRA) said the 20 roads to be contract are key roads within the region, adding that once completed will added value to internal traffic circulation and distribution within the most prominent urban settlements during the hosting of the OIC Summit and beyond.