Barely a decade since their commissioning during celebrations marking the 17th anniversary of the July 22nd takeover, ferries Aljamdu and Kansala have been sold for a combined fee of ten million, eight hundred and twenty-five thousand dalasis.
After a week of speculation regarding the sale of the ferries and the manner, the Gambia Ferry Services has released a statement yesterday, denying it sold the ferries without proper bidding and at knocked-down prices.
“The GFSC management had acquired Board resolution for the sales of both Kansala and Aljamdu ferries. A Surveyor was engaged to establish the reserved price and management had acquired GPPA approval prior to any sales. Based on GPPA guidelines, the Disposal Committee had placed the notice on local newspapers and both ferries were sold to the most responsive bidder. The Kansala Ferry Boat was sold to SIBI and Touray, the highest bidders, for GMD 5,000,000.00 (five million Dalasis) and Aljamdu Ferry was sold to Tanj Consulting, (the highest bidder) at GMD 5,825,000.00,” GFS said.
There were also reports that second-hand engines were bought for the Kunta Kinteh ferry. The ferry was commissioned by President Barrow in 2017.
“On 11th July 2021, three (3) new caterpillar Marine Diesel Engines were bought from SAUDEQUIP, the Caterpillar Authorized agent for West Africa, based in Dakar, Senegal. As per Sales Contract Agreement all three engines were installed and commissioned in Kunta Kinteh in December 2021.
The Gambia Ferry Service Company Limited (GFSC) is a state-owned, public entity and bound by law to carry out all its functions transparently, responsibly and with due diligence and management is committed to always upholding these principles. The GFSC or general Manager have not appointed any agent to sell any ferry on its behalf
Members of the public are therefore urged to disregard the recent rumours on social media as false and misleading which was geared towards tarnishing the good image of the institution.
Anyone interested in doing business with GFSC must channel it through the Head of the institution and all monies intended for payment to the company should all be paid directly to the GFSC Cash Office and not to individual employees; otherwise may be doing so at their own risk,” the statement concluded.
