By Fatou Saho
The Minister for Transport, Works and Infrastructure, Ebrima Sillah, has explained that, the swampy nature of Nuimi ‘Hakalang’ is what has delayed the construction service.
The minister said this during his first official site visit which began in North Bank Region recently.
He stated: “This particular road has posed a real challenge because of the swampy nature of the area and also the water table here is very high. As a result, there have been several changes to the original plan to finish this road.”
The project for this road construction had commenced in October 2020 and was expected to be completed by December 2022, but the authorities have amended the contract period which is now expected to be completed and inaugurated in May this year.
Although the road which is 84.5kilometers from Bunyadu to Kuntaya, has now been constructed up to Albreda.
However, Minister Sillah said, he is optimistic that in May this year, President Barrow will inaugurate the ‘Hakalang’ road, together with all the other roads in NBR that are under construction and maintenance which are the Njawara Kerewen road, Bannie, Salikenni and Njabakunda road.
Meanwhile, the paramount chief Alagie Njie, has blamed the first contractors of the ‘Hakalang’ road project for its late completion.
He explained: “Since President Barrow took over, the ‘Hakalang’ road project was the first to start and it is delayed due to the contract. If the contract was given to the now contractors since the start, by now it would have been completed”.
