As the country face acute shortage of cement, traders have said the government policy of giving monopoly of the market to “so-called’ factories in the country is to blame.
Alhagie Touray, a long time cement trader in Farafenni said his position is that there is no cement factory in The Gambia as all those claiming to be running factories are just importing and rebagging cement in The Gambia and therefore does not deserve monopoly or preferential treatment .
‘A factory that manufacture cement in the country should not talk about its cargo or ship not been able to dock at sea. That is a lame excuse. The government needs to listen to the ordinary Gambian and lift the heavy tariff on cross border trade in cement to avoid shortages and price hikes. Look at the price of cement now. Even D1000 cannot get you two bags of cement in this country now. The cheapest is D625 while at some places not is costing nearly D800, if available at all,” Touray lamented.
