The Gambian President Adama Barrow on Friday toured roads earmarked for the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Banjul next year.

State House Friday announced President Barrow accompanied by the Local Government Minister, Musa Drammeh and officials from NRA, Ministry of Works and OIC Gambia Secretariat “are currently on a monitoring tour of the identified roads to be constructed for the upcoming OIC Summit in 2022.”

“While inspecting the roads, the president strongly urged the National Roads Authority (NRA) and all relevant stakeholders to expedite the implementation of the project to meet the proposed timelines,” it added.

But hopes are fading among scores of Gambians, many of whom believes the summit wouldn’t take place, because they said not much have been done for its preparation.

The OIC Islamic Summit is the largest gathering of Muslims heads of states and governments and convenes every three years. 

The hosting of OIC Summit is believed to have been signed by the regime of former President Yahya Jammeh at the 2016 OIC Summit in Turkey.

However, The Gambia lost the right to host the summit in 2019 due to inadequate and poor infrastructure to accommodate the 57 heads of state and kings and their large entourage.

Saudi Arabia replaced The Gambia as host in 2019 while the Gambia government was given the time to prepare for the 2022 summit. 

Reporting by Adama Makasuba