Finance Minister Promises to Address Delay In Payment for Faraba Banta UTG Works

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By Ndey Sowe

The Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Seedy Keita, has promised to address the delay in the payment for the works at the University of the Gambia Faraba Campus, to avoid any excuses on the targeted deadline for its inauguration. This came in the wake of the contractor disclosing that work was going on smoothly but expressed that there was delay in payment.

The Finance Minister made this promise on Friday 13th January 2023, during a site visit to the University’s Faraba Campus, when he was accompanied by the Minister of Higher Education, Research Science and Technology Pierre Gomez; the Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure, Ebrima Sillah and the Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Welfare, Fatou Kinteh.

According to the authorities, the plan is to inaugurate the first phase in early February 2023, as government secured an additional $24 million to build the second phase.

The purpose of the visit was to gauge the state of progress of the construction ahead of the inauguration of LOT 1 component, which comprises the Schools of Education, Business and Public Administration, Arts and Sciences, and Information and Technology.