By Tabora Bojang
Finance Minister Seedy Keita on Wednesday presented to National Assembly Members a breakdown of the donor funding, government contribution, total project expenditure and cumulative amount gathered by the government for the hosting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit held in The Gambia in May 2024.
He was responding to a parliamentary question by Banjul Central NAM, Abdoulie Njai who wanted to know how much money was received for the summit and where the funds were spent.
The minister revealed that over $240 million was received in form of grants and loans from donors with respect to infrastructure improvement for the summit.
According to him, this includes $93 million given by the Saudi Fund, which was allocated into the following: $22.5 million grant for the rehabilitation of water and sanitation network, $10 million grant for electricity network enhancement, $10.5million for construction of VVIP at the Banjul airport and $50 million allocated for the construction of the 50Km feeder roads project.
Minister Keita further disclosed that the government also received funds for the widening of the 22km Bertil Harding Highway from the following: $20million from the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), $19.8million from the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), $14million from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and another $15.3million from the IDB.
He further revealed that the government has also contributed $26million and $9.8million under the Bertil Harding Highway project.
However, he did not clarify if these components are loans or grants with the exception of a $50 million grant for constructing of the Conference Centre.
Funds from the national budget
The finance minister further revealed that government had incurred additional expenses for the hosting of the summit amounting to D647.9 million taken from the national budget.
Funds on 89 vehicles
According to Minister Keita, the Gambia government incurred other expenses for the summit such as the purchase of a “total of 89 vehicles at €9.996million.”
The minister was asked about the fate of the vehicles following the summit and he replied: “They are under the custody of the Government Vehicle Controller who will decide on their utilization and allocations but of course that is the executive’s decision.”
He however confirmed that part of the fleet is being distributed while others are reserved.
Several lawmakers inquired as to whether the vehicle contract had gone through the right procurement procedures, to which the minister said the GPPA was involved and all the due processes were followed.
