By Talibeh Hydara
In early March 2023, on the sidelines of the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress, I attended a press conference of the Chinese foreign minister in Beijing, a section of which was about the Belt and Road Initiative.
I sat there and the numbers baffled me. The foreign minister listed the one trillion-dollar investment, the creation of over 400 local jobs, the more than 3000 cooperation projects, and most substantially, lifting 30 million people out of poverty—which is now 40 million.
The Belt and Road Initiative, put forward by President Xi Jinping in 2013, seeks to connect Africa, Asia and Europe through land and maritime networks to promote regional integration, trade and economic growth.
Since The Gambia is among more than 150 countries and international organizations that signed up to the initiative, the sound of “land and maritime” connectivity was pleasing to me.
Impact of BRI on The Gambia
The truth is, we are new in BRI, having only officially joined in 2018. However, despite being new in the pact and our size—given the country is the smallest on mainland Africa—there were almost instant benefits in our infrastructure connectivity.
And the president, Adama Barrow, very much emphasized the impact of BRI on The Gambia at the FOCAC Beijing Summit held on 4-6 September 2024.
“Significantly too, BRI does not only enhance connectivity, but also benefits Africa’s growth through various industries. In The Gambia, for instance, China’s support in the implementation of the Greater Banjul Area Power Transmission and Distribution Modernization Project demonstrates the scope and developmental outlook of the Initiative. The project is an important measure taken to implement The Gambia’s 2025 Energy Planning Roadmap,” he said.
The Gambia has also enjoyed China’s support in infrastructure connectivity with roads and bridges tangible examples in parts of the country.
“Similarly, the China-Aid Road and Bridges Project in the Upper River Region of The Gambia, connecting key sections of the Gambian National Highway Network, is aimed at promoting the economic development and well-being of the Gambian people,” President Barrow said.
The project, which materialized the roads and bridges mentioned by the president, was signed in May 2017, only a year after The Gambia and China resumed diplomatic relations. So, I wouldn’t be wrong to say that The Gambia started benefitting from the BRI infrastructure connectivity before its official membership was announced.
The ring roads, spreading 51km and four bridges, cost at least USD80 million and have changed the entire trade fortunes of that part of the country. In context, the Upper River Region never had a bridge before and the locals mainly relied on rickety boats and canoes amidst visible dangers posed by hippos and crocodiles in the crossing points to engage in trade.
Those dangers have been neutralized with the construction of two major bridges [Basse and Fatoto] and two small ones [Suduwol and Chamoi]. With these and the three asphalt roads, cross-border trade and business activities have been boosted as many Gambians in URR can travel to Senegal and other parts of the sub-region faster and safer.
Having this huge impact on Gambians in mind at the FOCAC summit, President Barrow was full of praises for the ingenuity of President Xi’s BRI project, which has clocked eleven years since it was put forward in 2013.
“The Gambia welcomes President XI’s high-quality Belt and Road Cooperation announced during the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on 18th October 2023. The priority areas, such as renewable energy, healthcare, technology, and the re-modelling of BRI on investments, tactically designed to yield long-term benefits for our local communities, aligns most neatly with the AU agenda 2063,” he said.
Beijing Initiative and digital economy
In their collective strive to implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, The Gambia joined China and twelve other countries to voluntarily propose the Beijing Initiative in October 2023 at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.
The Initiative aims to expand and tap into the huge potential of the digital economy, focusing on fostering agricultural modernization, promoting digital transformation of the industry, improving digitalization of public services, coordinating digital transformation and green transformation, and supporting digital innovation and entrepreneurship.
As an essential part of the BRI concept, boosting digital economy is an area The Gambia is trying to exploit. In 2022, while announcing a new cabinet, President Barrow created a new ministry focusing on communications and digital economy.
The Beijing Initiative is a rare opportunity for The Gambia to leverage on the support of bigger countries and advance technologies to create jobs and boost the economy.
With regard to the digitalization of the public service, efforts are already underway to align this vision with the government’s development agenda.
On the sidelines of the OIC Banjul Summit in May 2024, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy received a 180,000-dollar grant from the Ecowas Commission aimed at digitalizing public service and promoting digital governance.
Digitalization requires huge investments in the country’s internet infrastructure. For citizens to embrace and actively participate in the digital space, connectivity should not only be accessible but affordable. Both things, however, remain somewhat illusive to Gambians.
Data affordability continues to be a pressing issue in Africa with several countries ranking among the world’s most expensive places for data.
A leading broadband, TV and phone comparison site cable.co.uk, in its 2023 report, ranked The Gambia 9th in top ten African countries with the most expensive data [internet] prices.
The ranking said The Gambia has an average price of 1GB at $3.56 which is equivalent to little over D225. On the global data ranking, the country sits 202 of countries with the cheapest data rate.
Despite the $27M investment into the national broadband network—a concessional loan from the Chinese government—the country is still facing high data prices, an area that would require more support possibly through the Beijing Initiative.
Time to belt The Gambia
In one of the press briefings ahead of the FOCAC Beijing Summit 2024, Xu Jianping, the director general of the department of regional opening-up of the National Development and Reform Commission, NDRC, revealed: “China has participated in the construction of over 10,000 kilometers of railways, 100,000 kilometers of highways, nearly 1,000 bridges, and 100 ports in Africa. These projects have improved Africa’s infrastructure and promoted economic development.”
The Gambia has benefitted from the 100,000km of roads and the 1,000 bridges across Africa. However, a railway—an integral component of infrastructure connectivity for any country—is still conspicuously missing in our transport network. We don’t even have tracks.
The Gambia is one of only four West African countries without a railway system, an unpleasant record we need to break.
Railway transport is viable over long distances and for the transportation of high cargo volumes. It then begs the question, nearly six decades after independence, is it finally time for us to think about having a railway system?
The Gambia is small. It is less than 50km wide at its widest point, and a total area of 11,295 km2, more than 11.5% of which is covered by water. Surely, someone is thinking about seeking investment or even a loan to finally build a railway system because our size makes it even more straightforward.
Put simply, a railway network will reduce traffic congestions on our roads, uplift the local economy and make rural populations access facilities in the urban areas without much of a hassle.
And if there is one organization through which The Gambia can benefit such an indispensable infrastructure it is BRI. It is possible, and I am looking forward to having the belt of BRI strap around The Gambia and connect it to the sub-region, boosting the movement of goods and services while alleviating rural-urban drift.
It is early days in BRI, yes, but this should be a key target for the Gambia government in the next decade because it is the solution to our current transportation problems. It doesn’t have to be a subway or even high-speed; a normal train will do for now.
Banjul-Barra waterway
On 26 March 2022, Senegalese President Macky Sall inaugurated the new Foundiougne bridge in the central region of Fatick, named after legendary South African leader Nelson Mandela. The beautiful bridge was financed at a cost of $70 million and it is 1.6km long, making it the longest river bridge in West Africa.
The interesting thing is that this infrastructure project emanated from FOCAC and China’s strong desire in building Africa’s infrastructure connectivity. It is the culmination of an agreement between China Eximbank and the Senegalese government. It was a good move by the Senegalese government, now it is our turn to do a similar move for the Banjul-Barra waterway.
People think building this bridge is a pipedream but it is absolutely feasible. Banjul-Barra is the most popular crossing in the country with roughly 20,000 people using the ferry daily.
In terms of safety, speed, revenue collection and convenience, building a bridge on that crossing is the most logical thing to do. The transport minister Ebrima Sillah revealed that feasibility study has already started to construct a bridge on the waterway.
“The long-term strategy of The Gambia is to bridge Banjul-Barra and I am happy to announce that the feasibility studies have started. This is an ECOWAS project which is part of the Lagos-Abidjan-Dakar corridor project which The Gambia is part of. Initially, ECOWAS wanted to do the corridor from Amdalai going all the way to Sita Nunku then Siliti but looking at the strategic importance of the Banjul-Barra route, we thought it’s necessary because considering the small size of our country, we have other bigger countries like Mali that are benefitting from about 100 up to 1000km of the road and for us, from one end of The Gambia to another, it is not more than 80km,” Minister Sillah was quoted in April.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged over $28 million towards The Gambia’s development at the FOCAC Summit in Beijing. The financial support will go into agreed projects in the country.
It is not clear which projects the money will go into but since the Banjul-Barra bridge is an Ecowasproject, it means The Gambia will co-finance it. Will part of the $28 million go into the bridge? Only time will tell but China has built bridges for The Gambia before and I believe it can happen again, even though at roughly 5km long, Banjul-Barra could be in top 3 longest river bridges in Africa. But BRI was once only a dream too and now a tangible reality visible across the globe. The Gambia can dream too for a railway and a bridge on the Banjul-Barra crossing. The time is now!
