By Aisha Tamba
Earlier this week, delegates from the World Bank met with officials of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) to undertake flood and coastal risk assessment and priority investment planning for the Greater Banjul Area.
The aim of providing the technical assistance to the Government of The Gambia is to obtain an assessment and pre-feasibility study of the flood and coastal risks in the Greater Banjul region and identify and prioritise in a participatory way measures and infrastructure investments that could provide a robust framework for supporting urban and coastal disaster and climate resilience measures.
The executive director of the NDMA, Sanna Dahaba, explained that Banjul is among one of the highest cities at risk in terms of sea-level rise.
He explained: “Last year, the NDMA requested support to conduct geographic information system (GIS) mapping and surveillance to look at what is happening in Banjul, the request was approved by the World Bank and they sent in a team to look at what is possible in regards to addressing the sea level rise and it’s threat on economic assets of Banjul.
“The purpose of this mission is to come and conduct a comprehensive study on how we should collectively with our stakeholders address the sea-level in Banjul. The GIS mappings and surveillance was conducted and the reports are available which will be integrated into the current study to be conducted.”
He disclosed that the NDMA will conduct a stakeholders meeting later this week “so that all the stakeholders will come up with an input to see how holistically we can address the issue of coastal erosion and all the elements associated with flooding in this country”.
The team leader, Veronique Marie Floissac, expressed her delight and gratitude to the NDMA for the good work. She said the delegates will conduct a field visit to the study areas, review data and provide support training to the Kanifing Municipal Council on drone imagery processing.
