By Tabora Bojang
The managing director of the Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) Ousman Jobarteh has said government is currently discussing with Turkish company, Albayrak to renegotiate the terms and agreements of the deep sea port to be built in Sanyang.
The Gambia government entered into a 30 -year concession agreement with Albayrak to invest and take over all operational activities of the Banjul port for 6 years and the building, and operating of a new port in Sanyang for 24 years.
Appearing before National Assembly Members yesterday, MD Jobarteh informed deputies that one year has now passed and the preconstruction activity has not commenced because both the government and the concessionaire Albayrak, are yet to fulfill certain obligations they are supposed to shoulder.
According to him, this renegotiation is being carried out to ensure default clauses prevail in the contract whereby bonds will be encashed on certain activities that cannot be fulfilled by the concessionaire (Albayrak), and the investor to replenish those bonds.
“This deep sea contract became effective on 14 February 2025 and by 13 February 2026, the pre-construction stage should have been completed and actual work supposed to start but unfortunately we have experienced some delay and we are at a stage where the concessionaire is being engaged with a view of having a remediation that is going to be structured along the lines of having certain milestones which are already set in the contract to be reviewed and renegotiated,” MD Jobarteh said.
On the part of the government, he said the necessary lease and sub-leases are still not finalised while Albayrak is to do some geotechnical investigation on the site where the port infrastructure is to be established. He said this is so because in the original master plan, Albayrak was obliged to do the port infrastructure on sea only but during the site investigation it came out that the plan has now changed. “The port infrastructure will be built both on sea and offshore and the area will be reclaimed to acquire the land. But according to our engagement with the Ministry of Lands, the lease cannot be issued for an area where there is no land, so the reclamation has to precede and then the lease will be issued. So we are hoping that before the expiry of the pre-construction period which is February 13, the negotiations would have been completed and then we will sign off this addendum,” Jobarteh informed lawmakers.
He said the strategy now is to look at how “we can improve the conditions placed on the bonds such that if there is an event of default, some percentage of those bonds can be enchased and the obligation be on the concessionaire (Albayrak) to replenish those bonds.”
Asked about the current situation of the ground, MD Jobarteh reported that the pre-construction activities have not yet started because the studies are yet to be completed.
“For the offshore, the master plan needs to be completed but that was also delayed because they [Albayrak] reported to us that the equipment they are using at the site submerged due to some adverse weather so they are having a challenge to buy the necessary equipment or the spare parts. So they have been having a challenge for 8 months and these are issues we are taking into the renegotiation because this is delaying the work and there has to be a solution,” MD Jobarteh said. He pointed out that pre-construction is what precedes the actual movement on the site.
“So we expect that there will be a one year delay and that will also affect the contract in the sense of delaying the handing over date by one year as well,” Jobarteh said
He said government has been informed of the matter at the highest level and a cabinet taskforce has been set up with instructions for the renegotiation to be completed before February 13.
