Minister Sillah inspects OIC urban roads project final phase

Ebrima Sillah was accompanied by Matarr Ceesay, permanent secretary at the same Ministry, Ousman Sanyang, managing director of National Roads Authority (NRA), and other senior officials from the ministry.

The tour, which forms part of the Minister’s routine inspection of ongoing infrastructure projects in the country, is designed to gather first-hand knowledge and assess progress made so far.

Day one of the tour, which saw Minister Sillah and delegation visiting the final phase of the 50-KM OIC urban road construction works within Kanifing Municipality and parts of the West Coast Region, began at Lot-P2 - Bertil Harding (Methodist) via Estate Road connecting Kanifing General Hospital (1.01km), and continued to Lot P16 - Kanifing General Hospital-GTMI Road (0.75km); P19 - Kairaba Avenue (former IEC) - Banjul/Serrekunda Highway (GTTI) road (1.96km); P1- GPPC-New Jeshwang (Gacem Junction)- Jokor Junction road (2.56km); P15 - Bundung Highway (2.68km); P5 - Sukuta-Latrikunda Sabiji Road (3.36km), and P13 - Sukuta Health Centre-Kololi/Senegambia Road Intersection (3.25km.)

Elsewhere, at Lot 2; the minister and delegation inspected works at P6- Kololi Tavern- Bijilo-Brufut road (8.60km), and P9- Sukuta-Wullingkama - Brufut-Ghana Town Road (8.35km), which is 75% complete and current work involves drainage and drainage covers, sidewalks, subbase and the streetlights foundation.

Speaking to journalists after a conducted tour of the various sites, Hassine Fathali, a consultant of the project Lot 1 and Lot 2, explained that for lot 1, the overall progress in terms of work was about 65% complete, while for lot 2, 62 % of the work had been completed.

He stated that his teams are working hard to complete the work by 31 March 2025, highlighting some challenges that contributed to the delay in the progress of their work. Those, he said, include allocation of water services in some areas, among a host of others.

Fathali sounded optimistic that by end of March 2025 they would complete a considerable number of works at hand.

In terms of features, design and road lifespans, consultant Fathali assured the minister and delegation of quality roads, as it is double-carriage roads constructed out of asphalt and concrete.

The final finishing touches, he said, also include installation of solar-street lighting systems, traffic signs and parking lots, among a host of others.

Joseph Raymond Sandy, project manager PaviFort-Huta - Gambissara, Lot 2 of the 50 KM of urban road project, recalled that the contract was signed in October 2021 and that they started work on 15 October.

‘We’ve been working all this while, but we have series of challenges,” he explained. “I think everybody was aware of re-allocation and demolition. But for the past one year to two-year, a lot of improvements have been made because a lot of re-allocations and demolitions have been done. Demolition I would say is at 98% while re-allocations is only what is pending in few sections, may be 70%.”

He noted that before October they would have about 15.4 KM, saying as he speaks, works are at an advanced stage in other areas where re-allocations have been completed.

“So as consultant, the project is a 62% and from their own calculation even though we believe if we re-calculate it, it will be around 65% or more,” he added.

Ousman Sanyang, managing director of the National Roads Authority (NRA), equally spoke about the progress made so far regarding the ongoing construction of the OIC 50-KM urban road project.

The project, he recalled, started about three years or so, and when started the progress was slow, which were some of the reasons,” he said.

“Such projects in an urban area is quite challenging, as there are demolition and re-allocation. So, at the start of the project, you would not realize a lot of progress. So, when I started it was single digit progress in terms of percentage completion.”

However, this he said, goes to show that during the start of the project the teams were more concentrating mainly on demolition and re-allocation, saying those are quite challenging especially in an urban setting, where those issues were not sort of documented.

While sometimes there are no indications of pipe on the ground, he said they also have to demolish, which requires theme to have police escort to help.

“You demolish people’s houses where they’ve lived and grown up; these are all challenging issues, which was why it was slow at the start.”

For his part, Matarr Ceesay, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Works, explained that the OIC 50 KM urban road project consists of twenty roads within the Greater Banjul Area.

There are strategic roads that traverse important communities of this country, PS Ceesay maintained, acknowledging that when they were putting up the list of roads, they looked at areas where it could have an impact on the population.

Those roads, he said, are not only designed to promote connectivity, but also to improve accessibility of businesses and services.

“Off course there are a lot of benefits that come with these roads,” he stated. “We also have installed drainage system to help flow of water especially during the rainy season.” 

About street lights, he said, they are very important to help improve the livelihood of the people in the communities.

The project has been a learning exercise for all, he noted, further describing it as an ambitious move on the part of government to actually look at and intervene in all these areas.

On challenges, the PS cited demolition exercise and lack of identification of utilities, saying that has amounted to about fifteen percent of their budget to relocate vital services and utilities as there are existing communities with water facility already being installed.

However, he expressed satisfaction with what they have seen so far, and encouraged the contractors to do more by giving their best, as they want to have a road that stands the test of time.

Ousman Sillah, minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure (MOTWI), thanked the team from the Ministry alongside the MD of NRA and consultants. He reminded that one of the strategic policy initiatives that encourages government roads initiative was the need to connect different communities within the Greater Banjul Area to make transportation much easier and also access to basic services.

As a result, Minister Sillah said, proper studies were conducted to look at different communities that were most-affected in terms of access to facilities, and also that are strategically located within the Greater Banjul Area to ensure that they serve as feeder roads to major highways in the GBA.

In light of this, he disclosed that these communities were selected to be part of the 50 kilometers OIC urban road project.

‘Thankfully, today we’ve seen much progress compared to the previous visit,” he acknowledged.

The works minister also indicated that at the moment most of the roads being visited are at the level of finishing touches by the teams, such as erection of electric poles and solar lights, completion of the drainage system and construction of speed bumps.

He expressed optimism that in the next three months, they will either see completion of most of the roads or in the final finishing touches of all the roads under the OIC 50 KM urban roads.

While expressing delight with the progress of the work, Minister Sillah highlighted some of the issues that need to be corrected, such as ramps adjoining junctions and some drainage facilities.

He also raised concern regarding the finished works, especially pedestrian lanes as people are inconsiderately turning into business centres for workshops and stores, as in Bundung and Kanifing.

Meanwhile, in all the sites visited in both Lot 1 and Lot 2, the features the team are working on include - sidewalks, drainages and streetlights, construction of speed bumps and other traffic signs.