By: Kebba AF Touray
The Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure, have begun a two day International Workshop, on Road Database management, at a local hotel in Kololi, on Tuesday, May 9th. The COMCEC funded workshop is meant to carve a road map for the establishment of a road database management system in the Gambia.
Speaking at the event, Essa Drammeh, the Director of Planning at the Ministry, said the workshop will avail them the opportunity to learn from their sister countries of Senegal and Nigeria, in order to effectively manage their database and will help equip them adequately, in establishing an effective road database system for the country.
Bai Lamin Jobe, the Minister of Transport, said the initiative is to be in line with some of the core activities of the Directorate of Planning at his Ministry and among them, the regular collection and analysis of relevant sectorial data, maintenance and up-date of a master data bank for the transport sector, collecting data on the performance indicators of Public Enterprises and using them to evaluate their activities, as well as carry out regular traffic surveys.
“The road map will eventually lead to the establishment of a Road Data base management in the Gambia, which is one of the core intervention areas of the Directorate of Planning and my Ministry,” he said; that data management and the production of reliable statistics, are not only important for policy makers in decision making, but serves as a guide for private investment decisions. He emphasized that international partners, multilateral organizations and the donor communities, use data and key performance indicators, in their decisions in funding and foreign direct investment.
“It is therefore important to assess the current situation regarding the state of our data management systems in the transport sector, and come up with a road map for the establishment of cutting edge data management systems, to enhance effective and efficient transport sector governance,” Jobe said.
This he said, can be effectively done by engaging both local and international partners, share experiences and best practices with them, in the spirit of multilateral cooperation.
