The Director General of The Gambia Public Utilities
Regulatory Authority (PURA), Mr. Alagi B Gaye, has pointed out that his
institution's position on ICT has been clear and consistent. He said that a
further liberalised environment will lead to significant gains as witnessed
with the mobile revolution in The Gambia and other parts of Africa.
The PURA Boss was speaking at the opening ceremony of a
one-day workshop on trade in services with the theme; "Dialogue on trade in
services and how to improve service delivery in the Gambia'.
The seminar was held at Dunes Hotel. It was jointly organised by the Department
of State for Trade Industry & Employment, The Gambia Public Regulatory
Utilities Authority (PURA) and the Committee on Mainstreaming Trade and Trade
Related Matters (MATTRICOM). "Most recently we have worked in actively
supporting DOSCIIT in passing new legislation in the sector by way of the
information and communication bill," Mr. Gaye said. He added that his
Institution has been challenged by a combination of institutional issues,
insufficient supply and high network losses that businesses and consumers have
to pay for. "This is economically crippling as it does not allow the growth of
SME and kills off entrepreneurial growth and the creation of wealth as a vehicle
to poverty alleviation," he said. Mr. further asserted that energy by way of
electricity in particular is a critical sector that requires effective
regulatory oversight and intervention."The huge resources needed to deal with an aging network characterised
by the inadequacy of transmission and distribution of electricity has direct
correlation to the effective roll out of ICT services particularly broadband
technologies," he stated.
He finally said that transport services in terms of
accessibility to remote areas is a critical issue. "However that is a topic for
PURA on another occasion perhaps when we do eventually take on that specific
mandated in that area," he concluded.
