Agnes Guillaud made this announcement on Thursday at the inauguration ceremony of the Sofanyama Bridge in Jarra Pakaliba, Lower River Region.
She explained: “In the road sector alone, the European Union financed a total of 76.5 million euros (equivalent to around 4 billion dalasis) for the rehabilitation and construction of 273 kilometres of road in The Gambia. This is nearly 50 percent of the paved road network of this country. Out of these 76.5 million euros, 48.5 million euros were financed through the 9th EDF of which 40.5 million euros came from the Gambian National Indicative Programme. 3 million euros came from the Senegalese National Indicative Programme to cover trunk road from Sabi to Velingara and 5 million euros from the Ecowas Regional Indicative Programme. This project will contribute to the regional integration of Western Africa. The remaining 28 million euros were financed under the 10th EDF Gambian National Indicative Programme. The roads financed are the Barra-Amdallai Road (19.9km), Madina-Seleti Road (12.7km), the Trans-Gambia Highway (25km) and the Basse-Soma Road (193km) of which the Sofanyama Bridge is an important part. The European Union has also contributed with as much as 7 million euros to the Basse-Velingara Road project which will be completed in the near future. All this would not have been possible without the generosity of all 8 member states of the European Union and the many hardworking European taxpayers. Allow me to thank them for their important contribution to the improvement of the road network in The Gambia.
“I have just addressed the important role and he necessity of the Road Fund of government to protect the road infrastructure which is part of the physical assets of The Gambia. I would also like to underline the necessity of weighing stations for axle road control in order to limit the weight of trucks crossing the country. In fact, this is a recommendation from Ecowas since it is well known that a road will degrade very quickly if such control mechanisms are not being implemented. The trunk roads Barra-Amdallai, Mandina Ba-Seleti, Trans-Gambia Highway and the Soma-Basse-Velingara will be used by an increasing number of trucks from Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry and other sister countries. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to control this parameter to maintain the roads. The European Union would welcome a dialogue on how to finance these stations in the context of our 11th EDF financial envelope.”
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