By Kebba Ansu Manneh
Counselor Luo Wenjun, Economic and Commercial Counselor of Chinese Embassy in The Gambia has revealed that China will continue to support Gambia’s development processes. Saying his country will also continue to follow the principles of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith in its cooperation with African countries.
He made these remarks at the inaugural ceremony of eighty one million dollar ($81million) China Aid Project of the Road and Bridges Construction in Upper River Region (URR) held on Saturday, 9th October, 2021 in Basse, where he cited numerous interventions China ushered to The Gambia recently.
“The Chinese government is willing to support The Gambia’s development with our own development achievements, so as to realize mutually beneficial results and common prosperity,” Counselor Luo affirmed.
He made references to China’s intervention to support Gambia’s development projects from 2016 to date, adding that these interventions includes the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre, Gambia National Broaband Network, technical assistance in agriculture and health sectors among others.
“Over the past five years, the Chinese government has provided 5,000 tons of humanitarian emergency food aid to The Gambia, as well as more than ten batches of anti-pandemic materials. The Chinese government also attaches great importance to the human resources cooperation between the two countries,” Chinese Embassy’s Economic and Commercial Counselor disclosed.
He added: “From 2017 to 2021, almost 1000 Gambians have been invited to China for training and studying to enhance their professional knowledge and skills. Today, the Chinese government has assisted, The Gambia to achieve economic and social development.”
Dilating on the significance of the just inaugurated projects, Luo said, ‘we believe that these are the bridges of friendship to assist the Gambia to achieve economic and social development, and these are roads towards the happy life to realise common development of the people of China and The Gambia.
He continued to disclosed that the newly-built Road and Bridges Project includes 51 kilometres of asphalt road, extending from Basse to Koina through Fatoto, with a design-speed of 60 kilometers per hour, adding that the project also contains two major bridges, which are the Basse and Fatoto Bridge, with bridge length of 250 meters and 170 meters respectively.
“This project will tremendously promote the flow of personnel, Cargo and service, and provide a powerful driving force for post-pandemic economic recovery and social integration to the Gambia and the surrounding regions. We (Chinese Embassy) believe that this project will lay solid foundation for future development of The Gambia and the China-Gambia relationship,” Counselor Luo highlighted.
More so, he said “the successful completion and inauguration of this project have fully demonstrated the high standards of China’s design, construction and management, and the immense potential of the China-Gambia cooperation.”