The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of The Gambia secretariat of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Essa Bokar Sey, on Monday 23 December 2019 presided over the formal opening of the tenders for consultancy for the design and review of the twenty new roads to be constructed ahead of the forthcoming OIC Summit in 2022.
The exercise, which was jointly held with the senior management of the National Roads Authority, brought together some of the key stakeholders of the construction projects, including the representatives of both the national and international firms that expressed interests in the road
constructions projects.
The straightforward process saw the symbolic unpackaging of the sealed bids that contained information about the technical and financial details such as the designs, supervision mechanisms, technical specifications, among others, submitted by six (6) contractors.
Reacting to the development, Deputy CEO Sey described the event as an important milestone in country’s efforts to host the summit successfully. He stressed that the current leadership of the OIC appreciates the magnitude of the tasks at hand, and as such, treats the projects with extreme urgency.
“These [the projects] are [being treated] with the utmost urgency because like most of us have seen, the countries that hosted the summit gained a lot of development infrastructure out of it,” Sey said.
“The OIC Projects are not only a dream but this is reality. We want to build 20 new road networks in the Greater Banjul Area because that will decongest our roads and facilitate communication, and communication means development.”
As part of the strategies to expediate the works, the DCEO highlighted that a new dedicated Project Coordination Office, housed at the Ministry of Works, among other bodies, has been created to steer the infrastructural works to ensure quality and timely delivery.
The Managing Director of the National Roads Authority, Mr. Momodou Senghore stated that the formal opening of the tenders will be followed by technical and financial evaluations, and subsequently, recommendations – all of which will be completed in the soonest possible time.
M.D. Senghore also revealed that, for the first time, they have required international construction firms to go into Joint Venture Agreement with local firms as a qualification criterion.
That, he said, will empower Gambian companies in terms of experience and capacity.
Issued by the OIC press office