By Tabora Bojang
For the first time since it signed an asset recycling agreement with Africa50 to manage the Senegambia Bridge, the government has come with new details about the agreement.
This comes amid mounting criticisms from the public notably economist Dr Ousman Gajigo who alleged that the agreement prohibits The Gambia from building any competing bridge anywhere in the country.
However, in its clarification yesterday, the government confirmed that the clause in question prohibits the building of a new bridge but only “50 kilometers” from the Senegambia Bridge and this “does not affect its plan to build the Banjul-Barra bridge”.
Further addressing the matter at a press conference yesterday, permanent secretary, Ministry of Finance, Baboucarr Jobe, elucidated: “The agreement [between Gambia and Africa50] stipulates that within the radius of 50km we [Gambia] cannot build a bridge. Because you don’t want to build something that would undermine the revenue generation of the special purpose vehicle to which the government has 12.5 percent shares and the partner [Africa50] has 87.5 percent shares. So the agreement stipulates that we cannot build a competing bridge within a radius of 50km until they [Africa50] recover their investment that either within 15 years or within a period of 25 years.”
Asked if the government will be in a position to publicly share the agreement, both PS Jobe and Information Minister Dr Ismaila Ceesay replied that the agreement is available online for the public to peruse.
The Standard however, made several searches on line but we could not find the agreement anywhere.
In response to the government’s clarification, Dr Gajigo fired back that there is no mention of a 50km radius in the agreement. “If the government wants to settle this issue regarding the 50km radius, they need to immediately release the concession for the public to decide. What is indisputable is that the government made no mention of this clause until I brought up the matter,” Gajigo posited.
He insisted that the agreement with Africa50 does not prevent The Gambia government from “developing only bridges but even new ferry crossings that may compete with the Senegambia Bridge during the contract years.”
Dr Gajigo, a former staff of the ADB, further charged that the agreement does not meet the “requirements of an asset recycling” deal and that the negotiation was “poorly handled by the government without due diligence.”
