The mayor of Banjul, Rohey Malick Lowe, has accosted the Minister of Works for not disclosing the full details of the Banjul roads reconstruction project to her council.  

Mrs Lowe claimed that she had no information as to the terms and conditions of the US$37 million roads project that was being carried out in her municipality.

In a viral video the Mayor and her councillors where seen having a heated exchange with the Minister of Works, Bai Lamin Jobe.

The Mayor told the Minister that it was wrong for her office not to have been involved in the project and to be kept in the dark. She said despite repeated efforts to engage the works Ministry to provide her with the details of the project, her pleas have gone unanswered.

“I have been inundated with questions from both my councillors and the general public and media as to the nature of the project but I cannot find any answers because I simply don’t know any aspect of the project.

As the BCC, the direct representatives of the people of Banjul, we deserve to know at least the details about the project such as how much money is involved or which streets are to be paved,” said the Mayor.

“I have been knocking on doors about this project; having meetings with the contractor Hadim Gai and the minister himself over this project. But we still don’t even know anything about the project as I have not even seen the project document.”

The Works Minister told the Mayor and her councillors that the misunderstanding regarding the project would be resolved soon with all the stakeholders.

Mr. Jobe clarified that the roads project was not a publicly tendered project because the Gambia Government has no money for this project and it is being pre-financed by the contractor Gai Enterprise.
“Once the government conceived the desire to build the roads, the technical papers were prepared and the government then looked for a contractor who will pre-finance the works to the right specifications, observed by an international consultant, and be paid five years later.

Gai Enterprise agreed to pre-finance the works. This is the true story of this project. It is different from the normal projects which go to tender because the employer already has the money,” he said.

The minister urged all the parties concern not to politicise the Banjul road reconstruction project as the city’s roads are dilapidated and rundown and needs to be renovated.