By Nelson Manneh
The Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure has said that the target of the government is to complete all the OIC road projects by May 2025.
The Minister and the authorities of the National Roads Authority (NRA), on Saturday 25 January 2025 toured the OIC roads under construction within the Kanifing Municipality and parts of the West Coast Region.
The site visit by the Minister of Works is part of his routine inspection of ongoing projects to gather first-hand information on the progress of the construction works.
The features of Lots One and Two roads in this project include sidewalks, drains, and streetlights.
Ebrima Sillah, the Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure during his inspection tour, interacted with the contractors at the various sites visited and asked questions regarding the areas he is not satisfied with.
During his face-to-face with the press, Mr. Sillah said he is impressed with the ongoing work most of which he said is ready.
“In some areas, all that is left is marking the roads, fixing street lights, and constructing speed bumps. I have also realized that there are some drains that are not properly cleaned and I have talked to the contractor to ensure that this is properly done,” he said.
At the Bundung Highway, Mr. Sillah said some vendors have started placing their goods on pedestrian pathways which he said should not be the case.
“We will engage the police who are currently engaged in the road clearing exercise within the Municipality, to ensure that all these things are removed from pedestrian pathways that have been constructed beside the roads,” he said.
Mr. Sillah observed some people have started to litter the streets and said it is not proper for one to clean their compounds and dump the litter in the streets. He said it is their collective responsibility to ensure that the streets are kept clean.
“I have also observed that there are a lot of donkey carts around, and when they collect waste from compounds, they do not go to the Bakoteh dump site, but will instead look for convenient areas and dump the waste they collect in these places. All this must come to an end,” Mr. Sillah said.
Mr. Sillah also lamented that there are some compounds along the road with sewage pipes dug from their compounds and extending them to the drains along the roads.
“This is not done. You cannot extend a pipe from your compound to the road, because the drainages along the roads are meant for the road, and not for waste water coming from compounds and flowing in the road,” he said.
Fathalli Hassine, the contractor in charge of the roads, said construction should be completed by March 2025, noting that as of now, the work on the roads in Lot One is 65% complete while the work on Lot Two is 62 % complete.
“In the beginning, we faced lots of challenges because we were demolishing and relocating people because the road passes through some of their properties,” he said.
Description of the Work Done on the various roads by the NRA:
Work on Lot One:
P2– Kanifing Hospital-Bertil Harding (Methodist) – Estate Road; 1.01km is 99% complete; everything is complete except the traffic signs;
P16 – Kanifing Hospital-GTMI Road; 0.75km has achieved 99% completion; only the traffic signs remain;
P19 – Kairaba Avenue (former IEC) – Banjul / Serrekunda Highway (GTTI) road; 1.96km is 90% complete; remains some sections of the sidewalks, drain covers, and the erection of solar traffic lights poles;
P1– GPPC- New Jeshwang (Gacem Junction)-Jokor Junction; road is 2.56km with 85% completion. What remains now are drain covers, sidewalks, erection of traffic lights and road markings;
P15– Bundung Highway is 2.68km long; work is 99% complete, and remains the removal of drainage covers and traffic signs;
P5 – Sukuta-Latrikunda Sabiji road is 3.36 km long; 50% achieved and currently work on asphalt is ongoing before working on parking areas and sidewalks;
P13– Sukuta Health Centre-Kololi / Senegambia road intersection is 3.25km long; it is currently in its prime and work achieved is 35%.
Work on Lot 2:
P6– Kololi Tavern-Bijilo-Brufut road is 8.60km long and is 95% complete;
P9 – Sukuta-Wullingkama-Brufut-Ghana road is 8.35 km long and is 75% complete with drainage and drainage covers, sidewalks, sub-base and in other sections of the project, the streetlight foundations remain.
