The project seeks to create a clean, crime free, child and women friendly environment which will not only boost the city's economy but provide a national blueprint for collaborative development.
The project comprises different key aspects including environmental safety, safety from gender-based violence, crime reduction, child friendly safe spaces and employment creation and employability development.
The key stakeholders of the project are the Ministry of Works, Construction and Infrastructure, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources, Ministry of Tourism, UNFPA and the Gambia Police Force in ensuring that their objectives are achieved.
The Banjul Safe City Project will be developed and implemented in three phases: the interim solution (which will focus on creating manual systems to ensure safety in all identified aspects), the automated solution (which focuses on transforming all manual solutions to modern technology supported solutions, and cyclical development (which includes a robust monitoring and evaluation mechanism to continually assess progress, identify gaps and improve on automated solutions).
Rohey Malick Lowe in her statement said the Banjul Safe City project will be an all-encompassing, phased development solution which will bring to the forefront, the growing concerns of over 40,000 people and the hundreds of thousands that visit the city every year.
"In my second term as Mayor of Banjul, I continue the trend of my first term by developing programmes and initiatives to improve the lives of the people of our capital city and the many others who interact within our corridors of business, public service and social life." Lowe said
She added said that there is no secret that the capital city, like many other cities around the world, is grappling with the realities of the 21st century: youth unemployment, environmental degradation, increasing economic instability, increasing petty and grand crimes, increasing cases of gender based violence, amongst others. She affirmed that it is their collective responsibility as leaders in the public and private sector to ensure that they develop safe spaces for their people during these trying times.
The UNFPA Country Representative Ndey Rose Sarr, expressed joy over the launch of the Banjul Safe City project, saying she would like to see young girls going to school without their rights being violated while unemployed youths have jobs and get their dreams realised.
She called other development partners to come and play their quota, while thanking Rohey Malick Lowe for coming up with the initiative.
Minister for Tourism Hamat N.K. Bah said that a clean environment is everybody’s business while urging Banjulians to ensure that the city safe project becomes a success.
“This will even boost our tourism and the number of tourists coming to the country. If the city is green and clean, it will attract more tourists and visitors” Hamat stated.
