If all goes as planned, he said, the Hakalang Road will be inaugurated in March as 80% of the work has been completed so far.
Minister Sillah made these remarks over the weekend at the road construction site at Hakalang as he and officials from the NRA embarked on a nationwide tour of road project sites across the country.
Officials said the Hakalang Road, which connects so many communities in Upper and Lower Nuimi including Badibou, if completed is expected to boost socio-economic activities within the area and also unlock many businesses and promote tourism potentials of Nuimi.
Inhabitants of the area are rejoicing, as contractors are stretching on the final stages of the work with the government hoping to inaugurate the road in February 2025 as part of activities marking the country’s nationhood.
The construction of the road, which is fully funded by the government of The Gambia, is divided into three components: the construction of Buniadou to Kuntaya; construction of Kerr Mbuguma through Medina to Bafuloto; and construction of Albreda to Fass Omar Saho.
Speaking further, minister Sillah said: “Overall, we are very delighted with the level of progress. At the Hakalang Road, 80% of the work has been completed so far and the main lube which is from Buniadou to Kuntaya will be completed in January of next year.”
“The secondary lube which is section two and three going to Fass Njaw which is about 26 kilometre, will be finished by the end of February of 2025. Therefore, we are hoping that by March, the president will be able to open the Hakalang Road.”
“At the Central Badibou end, the contractor is now mobilizing the full scale of implementation of activities in this particular stretch of road. The ministry and the NRA are going to collaborate with the contractors in order to ensure that the target deadline of February is met. We are hopeful that the roads that have not been completed because of the rainy season will be completed very soon.”
On the issue of quality, he said the ministry and the NRA do not comprise on it, adding: “We don’t only depend on the progress report we receive from the contractors, However, we also assigned our engineers to go around and give us much details report about the on-going road construction so that we can verify whatever report is submitted by the consultant. I can tell you that if we see any issues, we make sure that it is corrected.”
The significance of this infrastructural project, he went on, can’t be over emphasised, adding: “For the past 59 years, many of this communities were completely cut off due to lack of proper roads. Thus, connectivity was a problem which hinders access to health services, access to market and schools.”
“The roads are extremely very important. Again, it has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that if you want to develop your country very quickly you have to develop the road infrastructure network so that people can have quick access to markets, health facilities and also to reduce time.”
Jonna Senghore, the contractor of Bajam Enterprise responsible for the construction of the 16.1km Bani-Salakanni and Njaba Kunda road, said the progress of work was at 72%. “We could have completed the road. However, due to the rainy season, we had to pause the work. I can tell you that what is left now is about 4km in order to seal the road surface.”
Sulayman Sumareh Janneh, the deputy managing director of the National Roads Authority, spoke on the importance of road construction especially in the rural area.
“We are very much particular about quality. With all fairness, we can’t be building roads to improve people’s lives and it becomes a deterrent to people's quality of life as well. We want to build roads so that they can enhance people’s transportation. However, we can’t build roads and forget about the water running ways as it discharges in people’s homes. That can’t happen,” he posited.
“I told the contractors and the consultant to come up with a proper design that will address the issue of water discharging into people's homes at Sika. At NRA and the Ministry of Works, we are committed to task our contractors and consultants in order to come out with a workable design that will go a long way in improving people’s lives but not to create problems,” he stated.
Giving an update at the level of work at the Hakalang Road, the contractor, Gibrel Loum, assured that the remaining work will be completed at the stipulated time framework.
