The Gambia and the World Bank in 2022 signed a US$68m grant to revive the ocean-facing West African country’s tourism sector.
The grant is meant to promote diversification and climate resilience of tourism and help protect the Atlantic coastline of The Gambia.
Responding to a question asked by Hon Musa Keita, the Member for Serrekunda East regarding the grant disbursement, Minister Bah said: “We were to commence this year, according to the project design as per the documents. The third year of the project corresponds to July 2024 and June 2025.”
“The way the project is designed, a management company will be hired to provide coaching business incubation services and capacity building of 200 SMEs within the tourism sector before the matching grant is disbursed to SMEs with growth potential that will add value to the tourism sector,” he explained.
“The draft matching grant is already being reviewed for finalisation of the manual outline selection procedures eligibility requirements and contractual relationships for tourism related SMEs amongst others.”
“The procurement process for hiring the management firm is nearly in completion as the contract is expected to be signed within the next weeks of December in the coming year,” he disclosed.
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