By Nelson Manneh
Ebrima Sillah, the Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure has said the Hakalang road will be inaugurated at the end of April 2025.
Minister Sillah made this and other pronouncements on the aforesaid road during his visit to the site last Thursday, 30 January 2025.
This particular road project is divided into three sections: Bunaidu to Kuntaya which is a fifty-five kilometers stretch; Albreda to Fass Omar Saho which is a fifteen-kilometer stretch, and Bafuloto to Bangally, which is a thirteen-kilometer road stretch, making it a total of eighty-five kilometers of road under construction within this project.
Section One of the Hakalang road project will be covered with asphalt, while the rest of the two sections will have double-surface dressings. The contracted company is CSE, and PACE / GAMECS JV is the consultant of the project. Progress of the work on these roads, according to the contractor, is approximately 85% complete.
The Banni Salikene-Njaba Kunda Loop Road project in the North Bank Region (NBR) was also visited by the Minister and his team. This road construction has seen significant progress towards completion and the seventeen kilometers double surface dressing road which starts from Banni Salikene to Njaba Kunda, is contracted to Bajam Enterprise Limited, a Gambian-owned construction company, with the NRA as consultants of the project.
The team also visited the Kerewan-Njawara Road Project, which is about ten Kilometers long. This road project is contracted to Gai Construction Company, a Gambian-owned company, and NRA is the consultant for the project.
The Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure said the Hakalang road is now at its finishing point with about fifty-one kilometers already completed and about four kilometers left.
“A lot of people were using the Hakalang road project to challenge the government by saying that the government promised the people of Numi with roads, but they did not fulfill their promise. Today I want to challenge those same people to come and see how far we have gone in constructing this road,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister said the government is using local funds to construct the roads.
“This project is 100% funded by the government, and by the end of April or May, the Hakalang road will be inaugurated. This road will be accompanied by street lights and other features,” Mr. Sillah said.
Felex Ocloo, a representative of the contractor of the Hakalang road project, said they have achieved 85% of the work for the project and that the Asphalt dressing on the road is ongoing and hopefully by March, they should be done with the majority of the works.
“Looking at the road, one can justify that the road is constructed to save a long duration. It is a standard road with all the features that modern roads have,” he said.
Ousman Sanyang, the Managing Director of the National Roads Authority said the Hakalang road project stretches about fifty-five kilometers, and is progressing.
“The Hakalang road is fully funded by the government of the Gambia, and work on this project is almost finished. What is more special in all the ongoing road construction projects is that all the roads are linked to where services are provided. We have seen roads that are linked to hospitals and some to schools among other facilities,” he said.
For the information of the readership, the Ministry of Works and its implementing partners have been on tour of ongoing road projects across the country throughout last week, and have visited many road projects that are either nearing completion or are completed.
