The project, costing over D1 billion is funded by the African Development Bank and will take 36 months to complete.
Measuring 942 meters, the bridge will pass over the stretch of water across the River Gambia from Yelli Tenda in the north bank to Bamba Tenda in the south bank of The Gambia. More significantly, the bridge will ease movement of goods and people from northern Senegal to the restive southern province of Casamance, thus making it the most important integration project ever undertaken between the two states.
Presiding over the signing ceremony between his ministry and the contractor Corsancorvian-Arezki, works minister Ousman Badjie saluted the project as clear manifestation of the oneness and unity of the people of The Gambia and Senegal. He praised the good will of President Yahya Jammeh and Macky Sall for facilitating the realisation of this historic project which will undoubtedly help oil the already very special relations between the two people as well as serve as a landmark example for African integration.
Minister Badjie also called on the contractors and all the technicians involved in the project to ensure that the project is realised within the budget and the stipulated time.
Ambassador Dodou Salla Diop, the executive secretary of the Senegalo–Gambian Permanent Secretariat described the works “a peace, security and development project” saying “it is a very important day in the history of the people of Senegambia who are one people living in two sovereign states”.
Dodou Senghore, the managing director of the National Road Authority, the implementation arm of the ministry, said the project has been talked about for decades. He revealed that there are other components of the projects alongside the bridge.
Other speakers at the ceremony included DPS Lamin Camara of the Ministry of Finance who hailed the project as significant and historic and that “it will contribute to the maximisation of trade and commerce between the two nations and even beyond”.
Carlos Arevalo of the consulting company Studi International also spoke at the ceremony chaired by Abooulie Camara, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Works.
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