Ebrima Sillah made this disclosure recently in Gunjur during his recent nationwide site visit to road infrastructural projects in the country.
The tour is basically to gather first-hand information and assess progress of construction works.
The tour took Minister Sillah and delegation to different communities that the urban roads have traversed from Coastal Road, Wellingara to Sinchu Baliya, Tabokoto, Kunkujang Keitaya, Abuko, Bafuloto and Farato Bojang Kunda. Elsewhere, the tour party proceeded to Jambur -Baniaka, Youna -Kunkujang -Tujereng, Sanyang (Howba) Road and then Gunjur.
Speaking to journalists in Gunjur, the works minister acknowledged the significant progress made in all the sites he visited on day-two of his urban road site tour.
"Thankfully, the much-talked about coastal road going all the way to Kaw Junction in Latri Kunda traversing Wellingara, Sinchu Baliya, works have begun today. We hope in the next few months we will see significant progress in the construction of that road. We’ve also gone through a very important road this afternoon which is the Farato Telecentre Road going all the way to the intersection of Makumbaya Road, which is about six kilometres."
Minister Sillah, who later proceeded to Kombo South, expressed delight what he had seen so far, expressing optimism that the President of the Republic, Adama Barrow will be able to inaugurate the Tujereng to Baniaka -Madiana to Brufut road in April or May.
"For the roads in Sanyang and Gunjur, we are hopeful that by the end of April, construction work will be completed and that they can also be commissioned this year. So, we are very hopeful that we’ve seen some very good progress on some of these EPC roads and we are hopeful that the trend will continue in the rural areas."
Commenting on the Gunjur feeder road stretching into the seaside, Minister Sillah maintained that this particular road is extremely important as it is one of the critical roads that serves as a feeder for fishermen, who depend on fishing along the coastal area going all the way to Kombo and beyond.
Constructing such an important road, he believes, would significantly enhance the livelihood and economic activities in the area, further calling on the contractor to speed up on the remaining time that is left, so that the road can be inaugurated in April or May this year.
Matarr Ceesay, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure, acknowledged that this is the main access road from the town centre going down to the beach side.
Being the main access road leading all the way to Gunjur Sheikh Ahmad Futi Grand Mosque, PS Ceesay maintained that the road is very important for the community.
"And as we see it, it comprises concrete road and the contractors made some significant progress."
He described the quality as ‘good’ as the thickness in the reinforced concrete looks, saying it is designed in a way that it will have features that even during rainy season, will help in the collection of flood water.
The project, he said, is something that they have been working on as part of the executive and his Excellency President Adama Barrow have championed.
"This road is fully-funded by the government of The Gambia working with local contractors trying to look at how to expand the network across the country to better serve our communities.”
Ousman Sanyang, managing director of the National Road Authority (NRA), gave an insight into the project, saying the concrete road which connects Gunjur to the seaside is an important area in terms of fishing.
"It is good for the community as this is a primary activity in coastal villages like this. And providing an access would really open up the economic development of the area, because it is the key activity in this area."
To that end, MD Sanyang acknowledged that having access to the river is really important, indicating that a concrete road like that and the quality they are building it into would hopefully improve economic development in this area and generally for the country as a whole.
Ousman Touray, Chief Executive Officer, Green Vision, contractor, recalled that works started well, but along the line they got stuck due to lack of materials such as basalt.
"Sometimes those are some of the constraints that can delay one’s work unexpectedly. But work has started now and we are progressing very fine."
Ebrima Chow, road inspector at NRA, also confirmed the steady progress made in terms of construction. However along the line, they stopped due to shortage of construction materials.
