By Buba Gagigo
Ousman Jobarteh, Managing Director of the Gambia Ports Authority (GPA), has acknowledged a breakdown in communication between the agency and the residents of Sanyang. His admission follows claims by some property owners in the community that they were not informed their compounds would be included in the proposed deep seaport project.
In response, the Sanyang community, through their legal representative, Lawyer Lamin J. Darbo, formally expressed their concerns to the GPA regarding the project’s location.
Addressing the issue on West Coast Radio, Jobarteh stated: “There was a breakdown in communication, but when we had a meeting with them at the ministry, which was chaired by our honorable minister, Ebrima Sillah, the legal counsel, senior lawyer Lamin J. Darbo, was present, and in that we accepted that there was a breakdown in communication. But the way we have addressed that is to ensure that anytime we are going to Sanyang, we have a pre-assessment meeting and this was done.”The GPA Managing Director further assured that the concerns raised by the Sanyang community would be considered, and efforts would be made to improve engagement.
“So before any consultant goes on site again, we have to meet with the VDC. What they are requesting now is the communication; rather than just being on a phone call to say we have an appointment, we will start to document our engagement with them by way of exchanging communication formally, and that is what we are about to do now with the next steps that we expect to engage,” the ports MD said.
Jobarteh also revealed that two weeks ago, an independent engineer recruited by the GPA from the Netherlands was on-site for a familiarization tour. The engineer’s role is to assist in assessing the technical specifications and engineering designs submitted by the project’s investor.
“We had to call the VDC to accompany them. So they were there together with the investor and this independent engineer,” he said.The GPA has pledged to improve transparency and communication as the deep seaport project progresses.