In January of this year, The Gambia Port Authority (GPA) ceded 70% of the operations of the Banjul Port to Al Bayrak Group now repackaged Al Port.
According to The Gambia government, the Banjul Port has suffered several years of underinvestment and that the port’s inefficiency would continue to cause haemorrhage of billions of dalasi until something is done about it.
To cut a very long story short, The Gambia government entered into a concessionary agreement with Al Bayrak to run the Banjul Port for 30 years. This agreement effectively put Al Bayrak in control of 70% of port operations. As per the agreement, the Al Port should bring in new cargo handling equipment, enhance the port’s digital infrastructure and expand the container terminal among other short-term solutions to the port’s perennial problems.
It’s disheartening to see Al Port still heavily reliant on GPA’s cargo handling equipment nearly six months after taking control of port operations. Isn’t it?
A few weeks after 70% of the port operations was ceded to Al Port, the group promised that all its cargo handling equipment will be in Banjul in June. June is currently busy packing its stuff to give way to July, and nothing remarkable has so far happened.
Yesterday, the GPA MD Ousman Jobarteh and Al Port manager Mr Cem said they were inspecting the port expansion project site, trying to give the impression of seriousness. The truth is it’s the taxpayer money that is financing that project even if not entirely. It wasn’t ages ago when the GPA acquired 22,000sqm of residential properties at the contiguous zone of the port at Half-Die. This is part of the 1992 Port Master Plan. The GPA, it should be said, has already set this process in motion.
It is time for Gambians to start scrutinising Al Port! They have not started off well and we here at JollofNews are still not convinced that they will end well. You cannot promise millions of dollars of investment, yet you are doing very little.
Gambians can help kick Al Port out if they fail to stick to their side of the bargain. Smart lawyers like Lamin J. Darboe and L.S Camara can help in identifying possible breaches of contract and help us kick Al Port out if they refuse to behave well.
