Africa-Press – Gambia. The Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration, and Employment, Mod K. Ceesay, said on Wednesday that the central government financed the overwhelming majority of the Bakoteh Dumpsite redevelopment, countering suggestions that the Kanifing Municipal Council played a leading financial role.
Speaking at the government’s end-of-year press conference, Mr. Ceesay said the project was funded through a special arrangement in which the council contributed just 10 percent, while the remaining 90 percent came from the central government, largely through a loan facility supported by the World Bank.
“Bakoteh was developed through the GamWorks arrangement, where KMC only had to pay a 10 percent contribution; 90 percent of those funds came from the central government, as well as a loan from the World Bank. That is what created Bakoteh, the fence as well as the compartment; it wasn’t the council funds, or at least only 10% of the funds were utilized; 90% was the loan that the central government has to repay,” he said.
He said the financing covered the construction of key infrastructure at the dumpsite, including fencing and internal compartments, emphasizing that these were not primarily funded by municipal revenues.
Mr. Ceesay also addressed broader questions about local government financing, noting that councils are legally required to allocate 25 percent of their development budgets to specific projects. That requirement, he said, does not extend to initiatives funded directly by the central government.
“Twenty-five percent of your development budget must be done on a realistic budget; unless the central government and local government agree on a realistic budget, then it becomes a very difficult situation to implement,” he said.
The minister urged greater public scrutiny of municipal finances, encouraging citizens to demand clarity from local authorities about how development funds are spent.
“People must ask them, where is the 75 percent? What do they correspond to? What particular projects?” he said.
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