EU Reconstructing 250km of Trunk Roads

FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)

Awa B. Bah

27 May 2011

EU is Currently reconstructing 250km of trunk roads in the Gambia, including Barra-Amdallai,Mandinaba-Seleti,Soma-Basse, the trans-Gambia Highway and Soon Basse-Velingara, says programme Manager of the European Union.

The Minister of works, construction and infrastructure, Njugu Bah has said that the quality of any country’s transport system lies on the quality of its transport policy and strategies. Mr. Bah made these remarks on Tuesday the 24th of May 2011at the paradise suites hotel while delivering a statement during a one-day validation workshop on national road transport policy development organised by the Gambia Government in collaboration with the European Commission.

He said since the expiration of the first transport policy document of the Gambia (1998-2006), there have been several developments registered by the APRC government.

This is necessary in enabling the government to improve its transport system vis-à-vis achieving other development objectives in the areas such as economic growth, poverty reduction and social inclusion, he said.

“Cognisant of these needs he said the government of the Gambia with the assistance of the European Commission under the EC grant for support to the national transport plan of the Gambia, under took the review of the road sub-sector transport policy”, he said.

He revealed that the consultant firm engaged to take the lead in executing the policy review was WSP international management consultant, a UK based consultancy firm.

During the review process, he said the consultants actively engaged all the stakeholders that are involved in the day-to-day business of roads and road transport in the Gambia through one-on-one or focused group meetings.

He said after various consultations, a draft document is now presented for further consultative review with the various stakeholders.

For his part, the programme manager of the European Union Mr.Sylvian Lequere said that the choices made in the road transport policy are committing the government and all his partners including the EU, on the future development and maintenance of the road network in the Gambia. He said this strategy will have an impact on every Gambian’s life; adding that we all know how crucial the road network is for agriculture, tourism, trade, access to education, markets and medical centres.

The EU he said is currently funding a 76 million euro project that is about 3 billion dalasis, reconstructing 250km of trunk roads in the country including Barra-Amdallai,Mandinaba-seleti,Soma-Basse,the transgambia highway and very soon Basse-Velingara

He said in terms of maintenance, the project also aims to improve the capacity of the National Road Authority, adding that NRA has now the software, the knowledge and the human resource to create an optimized maintenance programme. On the specific issues of the road fund, we know it is well managed and last year, we have received 80million dalasis to feed the maintenance programme first step before sustainable fund, he said.

He revealed that the fund is still not sufficient to allow a fully operational programme. The private sector he said must be strengthened to create reliable contractors. Important investment and maintenance should be done now on the feeder roads network and axle load control should be performed to avoid any damage due to over-loaded trucks and the public transport should be enhanced, he said.

The objective of the road transport policy, he said is to prioritize and organize all these ideas for two purposes: to prepare a realistic work plan and of course to have an estimation of the funds needed, adding that whatever the source funding, government, donors like EU or partners like the African development bank, the national transport policy is the key document justifying the request for funding, and for the EU is even a pre-condition to any funding.

For his part, the team leader of WSP said the objective of the national road transport policy review project undertaken between November 2010 and February 2011 was to develop an overall road transport policy for the Gambia aimed at promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty and addressing current if identified sector challenges.

He said the development of the overall, integrated transport policies and the model strategies was based upon a review of the current status of the transport sector and an analysis of the forecast road transport demand.

He said based on a review of the current involvement of the private sector in the Gambia’s transport sector, an assessment of the potential for the increased private sector participation in the transport sector was also carried out, adding that with the development of the individual transport sub-sector strategies, areas of specific consideration for the private sector participation have been recommended, he said.

He said that road transport policy provides an appropriate policy framework and specific sub-sector strategies direction to achieve the objective contained in government macro-economic planning and development reports. Strategies, action plan by the sub-sector have been developed and requirement for detailed feasibility and other studies and technical assistance have been noted, he said.

He also said the draft road transport policy is a policy/strategy document and provides guidelines for the future direction of the transport sector as a whole, together with individual road, road transport and urban transport modal requirements. The draft road transport policy envisages a greater role for the private sector and a need for a detailed assessment of the sectors institutional framework to facilitate implementation of the strategy, he remarked.

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