In 2020 or thereabouts, the Gambia’s ministry of tourism set upon a massive infrastructural project implementation in the Central and Upper River regions of the country.
According to the ministry, the idea was to promote domestic and regional tourism as The Gambia was trying to diversify its traditional source market.
But since at the outset, the project was mired in controversy as allegations of tourism officials, receiving kickbacks in the award of the contracts for the eco-lodges emerged.
Meanwhile some of the contractors, it was later learnt, have ran into troubled financial waters and were walking very tight financial ropes.
In 2021, tourism minister Hamat Bah and senior tourism officials were in CRR and URR to familiarize themselves with the progress or otherwise of the projects.
JollofNews has meantime gathered that the eco-lodges project implementation could not meet the timeline.
Almost three years on, the lodges could not still be opened for business.
According to sources, tourism minister Bah was so embarrassed about the projects that he could not take the President and his delegation to visit the project sites as Barrow continued with his Meet The People Tour.
The projects were expected to be executed since last year.
