Scores of landlords and farmers in Lower Saloum District have expressed their concerns and frustrations regarding the lack of communication from government agencies responsible for the road construction as well as the contractors of the project.
Many of the affected people who spoke to this reporter disclosed that none of the Ministry of Works, National Roads Authority, CSE or the Local Authorities engaged them on their plans of the road construction. They said most of them who have been affected by the road construction are yet to know whether they will be compensated or not.
According to them, the road construction in progress resulting to encroachment and bull-dozzing of their farmlands without any prior notification, and many farmers whose farmland have been affected have no other place to make their living other than their farmlands.
One among the landlords, Mamudu Gassama, who is very concern as rainy season is fast approaching and no communication yet from and between the government agencies responsible for the project and the farmers/landlords, revealed that the only thing he knew about the project is that three quarter of his building will be demolished once the contractors arrive in his compound.
“We are very worried as farmers and landlords we don’t even know if they will compensate us for our farms and compounds hence there is no government agency responsible for this project or contractors that speak to us about this road construction project. The raining season is approaching we don’t know what to do is it that we are going to lose our farmlands and compounds just like that,” Mamudu Gassama asked.
According to him, the farmlands are their offices and losing it means a difficult livelihood for them and families while they will become homeless as most of them lack the financial muzzle to build new house.
“We are calling on the Gambian government to come forth and address this issue, we are farmers and we depend on only farming to make end meets. If government failed to compensate us then it means they are playing double standard because owners of unregistered properties along the Berthil Harding Highway that were affected have been compensated,” Gassama disclosed to this medium.
One farmer and landlords not comfortable for his name to be published said both the Ministry of Works and National Road Authority have disregarded them as important stakeholders, adducing that road construction anywhere in the country goes with compensation but not in their case.
“No government officials ever came here to discuss with us on how they are going to compensate us for our properties. All we know is that CSE brought its machines and started to demolish our farms and when we asked them why they said we should go to the government for information,” he disclosed.
He added: “When i enquire whether they will compensate our farmlands they said farm owners will not be compensated only property owners will be compensated. We are calling on the Ministry of Works and National Roads Authority to compensate all our farmlands affected and all the compounds that are going to be bull-dozzed at any time as the contractors are very near to the community.”
This is not the first time government will encroached into farmlands belonging to families in Kaur and other places in the district without any form of compensation but this time farmland and compound owners said government should compensate all their farmlands and compounds that falls on the path of the road.