By Assan Bah
Mr Ebrima Sillah, the Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure, said in an exclusive interview with this medium that he thinks bad road infrastructure contributes to the high cost of basic commodities.
He said good road infrastructure can make basic commodities cheaper and more accessible.
He said: “Unless you have road infrastructure, things will continue to be expensive because when the roads are bad, there is so much congestion on these roads so what will take a driver to move from point A to B for 10 minutes is now taking them an hour or more, they will also factor that in the cost. So when we have good infrastructure and good roads all these things will be ameliorated.”
He said this in his assessment of the benefits the country accrued for hosting the OIC Summit in May this year, in which he said the Gambian people will continue to benefit ‘immensely’ from the OIC projects.
He called these projects ‘legacy projects’, stressing that the Bertil Harding Highway had already changed the face of the Gambia, especially the greater Banjul area. “When the fifty-kilometer roads are ready and shaped, that will be an added bonus to the country. In addition to that we are doing a three-hundred and twenty-five kilometer (325km) road across the country which will be a game changer in terms of mobility, connectivity, and access,” he said.
He further said good road infrastructures are essential enablers of whatever one desires in life, adding that they are the opportunistic enablers of some of the things people do.
He added: “Even though critics are saying you don’t eat roads but when the roads are good, what you eat on the table can be made cheaper, arrive quickly, and reduce the cost. You can only achieve your desired level of health and access to medical facilities when you have good roads.”
According to him, since coming into power the government has made significant progress in road infrastructure in urban and rural areas. He promised that by March or April, 2025 almost all the urban roads will be completed.
The Coastal Road – Wellingara road, he said, is part of the roads in the maintenance program at the National Roads Authority (NRA) and they have already identified and done the tender process.
“The most responsive bidder has been identified, but the contract is yet to be issued due to lack of funds for the activity. The bidding process was completed in May 2024. The NRA is mobilizing to make the road motorable until the budget allows or funds are available for the project,” he reported.
