By Fatou Gassama
Italian firm Hydro Nova on recently handed over completed survey and design documents for land development and road construction under the Regional West African Resilient Value Chain Development Programme (REWARD), The Gambia.
The handover, held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Conference Centre in Bijilo, marks a key step toward modernizing infrastructure and strengthening transport networks to support rice production and food security. REWARD is funded by the African Development Bank and the Government of The Gambia and implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Security.
Attendees included engineers, project partners, Hydro Nova representatives, Directors General of the Department of Agriculture, NARI, and NSS, and members of the National Assembly Select Committee on Agriculture.
Mamour Alieu Jagne, Project Coordinator at the Central Projects Coordinating Unit, said land development is a decisive stage for the programme’s success.
“Once the design is right, it puts us on the right path toward rice self-sufficiency,” Jagne said. He urged stakeholders to provide constructive feedback to keep the project moving.
Paolo Mastrocola, Managing Director of Hydro Nova, said the firm was pleased to present its work in The Gambia and called on stakeholders to review the designs to inform the final phase.
Alhagie Nyangado, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, said land development for agriculture has long been a challenge in The Gambia. He thanked the project team and Hydro Nova for delivering the documents.
Bakary Sanyang, Project Director for REWARD, said The Gambia is one of 15 Ecowas countries implementing the regional programme. He said the project is addressing failures from previous initiatives, with land development as the top priority.
“To strengthen institutional capacity for land development, surveying, and water management within irrigation perimeters, we hired an international technical assistant who is now working with the sector,” Sanyang said.
He said the project is on schedule and expressed confidence that rice self-sufficiency remains achievable under the Ministry’s leadership.
