Speaking during a nationwide tour of ongoing road construction sites, Minister Sillah explained that the visit was the ministry’s first official visit to the project sites in 2024. He said that the Hakalang Road is very important to the government, the president and the community.
Sillah noted that since the inception of the First Republic in 1965 to date, Niumi has not seen the caliber of roads that the Barrow government is constructing. For some reasons, he added that the road faces a real challenge as the area is “swampy and the water table is very high due to its closeness with the sea.”
“As a result, there have been several changes to the original plan to finish the road. We are hopeful that by May or June, this road will be completed and the president will officially inaugurate it. The ministry thought it necessary to come out in earnest to see the progress, know the challenges, and work with the consultants and the constructor to ensure that we meet the deadline for the completion of the road,” Sillah said.
Speaking at Kuntaya, Minister Sillah further highlighted that the quality will never be compromised while reiterating that the quality assurance and all other things needed for the road construction are always reported to them to act on immediately if they see any variation.
He said the contractors also know that if they do bad work, it is rejected and they would have to redo it at their own cost.
On the involvement of Gambian youths, he stated that youths involved in the ecosystem are a concern. He, however, emphasised that things are now changing while revealing that young people are now taking up responsibility, learning new skills, being employed in the manual aspect of road construction and working with the contractors. He said that is important and thus the project has provided many opportunities for people in the region.
Dembo Samateh, deputy governor of North Bank Region, who received the minister, expressed delight while branding his region as the best region of the country which is known by the government.
“We have been interacting with your office for so long now and your delegation is familiar with the development of the country. The monetary aspect of any project is important and key and that’s why we used to call you the most energetic minister.”
He added that the visit was a signal to them that the president would also visit the ongoing site, while highlighting the significant impact the roads would have on the productive sector of his region.
Gibril Loum, project manager of CSE – the company contracted for the Hakalang Road, stated that more than 150 people are employed and over 120 people are local Gambians. He said that the drivers and machine operators are all Gambians, adding that the project hopes to employ many others.
Felix Ocloo, representative of the consultant of Hakalang roads, noted that the road is 84.5 kilometres while revealing that 24 kilometres has been completed so far.
At Njaba Kunda, Anthony Keita, senior operations and safety manager and the supervisor of Njaba Kunda Road Construction, said the project sites they visited were good. He added that they were making sure that they the quality of work is not compromised.
After visiting the Hakalang construction site and Njawara, the minister proceeded to the Banni Salikene-Njaba Kunda loop road project. This project, which is part of the NRA road maintenance project is 17km and is contracted to Bajam Enterprise Limited, a Gambian-owned construction company.
