By Ebrima S Jallow
A mission from the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) headed by Mr. Ahmed Sidiya, Acting Head of Follow-up Unit /Mission Lead, recently visited The Gambia for a period of nine days.
The team received by officials of the Directorate of Aid Coordination of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs will appraise Phase II of the University of The Gambia Project and to make follow-up on the ongoing operations.
The mission met with the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Honourable Seedy Keita, who welcomed them and confirmed the strong relationship between the government of The Gambia and BADEA.
The Minister expressed gratitude to the mission for their quick response to appraise the said project, following his encounter with BADEA at the sidelines of the Annual Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group’s meeting in Sharm Elsheikh, Egypt early June 2022.
He expressed interest in having a high-level country programming mission for The Gambia with the Bank.
As part of their itinerary, the mission also held a meeting with the Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Honourable Pierre Gomez who welcomed them and assured them of government’s commitment to completing the Lot I of the Fixed Package of the University of The Gambia Project by September 2022. He expressed appreciation to the bank for their timely support in appraising Phase II of the project, to a cost of $24 million.
The team further met with implementing agencies responsible for the ongoing operations in The Gambia. Similarly, a project site visit was conducted to follow up on the progress of Lot I of the Fixed Package of the project (University of The Gambia Project).
During their visit to the project site, the team observed that the construction of the buildings were substantially near completion, with painting, steel structures, wastewater treatment plant, and the supply of furniture and equipment being the only works remaining. According to the project officials and those of MoHERST, the government is doing its best to ensure that the project is completed by October 2022.
Relatedly, a follow-up meeting was also held between the National Roads Authority (NRA) and the mission meant to check on the progress of the widening of the Bertil Herding Highway project. The NRA conveyed that the progress of implementation has reached 19% as of May 2022 and the pace at which work is going; by end of December 2022 work is expected to reach 33%.
NRA disclosed that the final completion of phase 1 is expected to be in June 2023 and phase 2 by April 2024. Other project sites relevant to their funding were also visited and assessed.
The team concluded its mission with the signing of an aide memoir with the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr. Abdoulie Jallow on behalf of Minister Seedy Keita.