The Banjul City Council (BCC) has been granted €3.157 million – equivalent of D195m by the European Union (E.U.).

The grant is to support the various projects run by the city council.

The mayor of Banjul, Ms Rohey Malick Lowe, said that the grant will be used within the next three years to fund various projects in the city.

“The grant will cover facilitating the implementation of good governance in Banjul, enabling the creation of sustainable development centre in Crab Island,” she said.

Ms Lowe added that the grant will also be used to support a more effective and environmentally friendly waste management, sustainable greening the city by utilizing local resources as well as to make health care and hygienic practices more accessible and exploiting the potential medical plants.

She acknowledged the commitment of her team and also assured that the grant will be used as expected.

The E.U. ambassador to the Gambia, Atila Lajos, said that “the BCC is a winning team, there are hundreds of proposals prepared from cities in Africa and out of which, one of the very few that was selected for being supported which was less than a dozen was the proposal by BCC.

“Project application is difficult since it is E.U. worldwide call for proposals specially for local authorities which is direct E.U. support from local authorities and it is a support that doesn’t go through government.”