The Gambia would benefit from a multi-billion dollar ‘21st Century Gambia Project’ in Bijilo, which according to government officials will directly or indirectly create close to 10, 000 jobs.
The project by the Qatar-Gambia International Group is said to be the biggest ever public-private investment in the history of The Gambia.
The project they also claimed is the biggest single investment in the entire Gambian tourism and hospitality industry, bigger than all the investments in the tourism sector put together from 1965 to date.
It is also said to have come at a time when efforts are being mounted by the government to rekindle the tourism sector so as to increase its impact, as well as its added relevance to The Gambia’s socio-economic and cultural development in the 21st century.
When completed, the project is expected to build a hotel complex with 500 rooms, villas, conference centers, a modern shopping mall of a hundred thousand square meters of retail area, 16 residential towers with two thousand four hundred apartments, five of its towers with 800 offices, a modern hospital of over thirty-six thousand square meters of area, and two mosques, among others.
To us, this is a huge investment, and we look forward to its successful implementation.
However, we must emphasise that the country’s relations with any country including Qatar must be based on mutual rewarding partnership, respect and above all transparent transactions.
While we welcome our Qatari brothers, we must stressed that it is always good to appreciate the efforts of our old allies since the world is three days i.e. yesterday, today and tomorrow.
We hope that the new project will be beneficial to the sovereign Gambian people, and not only the elites and their business partners.
Meanwhile, officials connected with the project are reported to have said that, when completed, the Gambia will become among the most attractive and safest growing tourist destinations for all classes of tourists and visitors, including the high-spending top brass tourists from all over the world.
We hope that the project when operational will reduce the country’s high unemployment burden.
