As
part of its 30th anniversary celebration, Pan African Real Estate Development
Company; TAF Africa Global, over the weekend held a pre-launch briefing on its
famous Dalaba Estate, along the Jabang highway in Kombo South. The pre-launch
began with a press conference where journalist had the opportunity to engage
the company executive on crucial matters.
In
a move to create a global identity for the company, The Gambian owned Real
Estate developer has recently registered and operating in several West African
countries with its most active operation in Nigeria, where it is now a
household name with series of projects currently underway there.
General
Manager, Ya Bajen Njie explained that the Dalaba Estate was launched in June
2018, as a residential estate aiming to house 374 families, which comprised of
fenced empty plots and fully developed 2 to 4 bedroom homes.
“The
infrastructure cost of the Dalaba Estate arrives at over 30 million dalasis.
This includes solar street lights, water and electricity supply, 1500 fruit
trees and beautiful landscaping.”
Regional
manager, Assan Sosseh said spreading their tentacles to Nigeria in 2013 wasn’t
a bad one at all as the first phase of the estate which consist of over 900
homes, including various recreational facilities were sold out and occupied
before the beginning of the 2017 year.
Chief
executive officer Mustapha Njie said in a bid to address the current land
crises in The Gambia, his company has solely recommended and hired a consultant
for the government to efficiently address the matter, calling on the government
to take up its responsibilities in settling such issues.
“We
are aware of the growing number of real estates and land crises in this
country. But as a company, we took it upon ourselves to hire a consultant for
the government who will offer them consultancy services in matters relating
land.”
Mr
Njie also expressed disappointment in the move to turn GTTI into a university.
For him, GTTI is one of the longest serving technical and vocational training
institutions in the country, saying the government should have worked on
improving its standard instead of turning it into a university, a move he
described as an encouragement for more paper graduates.
“In
my opinion, GTTI should have been maintained for the technical school. It
should be reformed and adjust rather than turning it into a university. I think
this will only give us more paper graduates, people who will graduate with good
papers but when you take them to the field they can’t deliver.”
He
however commended Gai Construction Company for what he called its good
implementation of the Banjul Rehabilitation project, courtesy of the National
Development plan. He emphasized the need to support Gambian owned companies,
saying it is the only way to take the country to another level.
TAF
Africa Global is also engaged in social cooperate activities. Part of its’
cooperate responsibilities is the Tafcon foundation that brings together over
1000 participants to a conference each year, a pitching contest that awards
over 4 million dalasis to winners and the TAF leadership academy that groom
young people and provide them with mentors who help them in shaping their
careers.
