By Aminata Kuyateh
As the rainy season intensifies across the country, the National Roads Authority (NRA) yesterday embarked on a site visit to assess the flood-affected OIC feeder roads within the Greater Banjul and West Coast Region.
The inspection, led by the acting managing director of NRA, brought together technical officers and local authorities to evaluate the severity of the damage caused by heavy downpours. Areas visited include key project sites under the on-going Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) road infrastructure initiative, where flooding has disrupted mobility and posed safety concerns for residents and commuters.
These affected areas include: Kololi Tavern-Bijilo-Bruful road, Kombo Coastal road, Sukuta-Wulinkama-Brufut-Ghana Town road, Touba Sanchaba road, and Kerr Serign-Sukuta Camping road.
Speaking to the press after the visit, Acting Managing Director Sumareh-Janneh expressed his deep concern over the impact of the flooding but assured the public of the authority’s swift and coordinated response.
“We are fully aware of the hardship caused by these floodwaters. The NRA, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders will immediately intervene in the most affected zones while working on long-term drainage and road improvement measures,” he added.
“We build roads to enhance people’s lives; we build roads to make people enjoy their living conditions, not to worsen them. But as it appears, which is a general problem here in The Gambia currently, there’s a drainage issue because we don’t have a drainage network that helps to distribute or collect storm water,” he stated.
He emphasised that the authority remains committed to ensuring that road infrastructure projects under the OIC programme meet resilient standards, particularly as climate patterns become more unpredictable.
Mr Sumareh urged the contractor to ensure that some of the open drainage system be covered in order to avoid accidents. “Everything we do revolves around safety. We do everything possible to ensure no lives are lost due to open drainage,” he said.
Joseph Raymond Sandy, the contractor for Lot 2 of the OIC roads said the project is on-going, but admitted that the affected areas need urgent intervention and will have proper drainage systems.
The site visit forms part of broader efforts by the NRA to monitor road conditions during the rainy season and implement responsive measures to mitigate further damage and public inconvenience.
