Africa-Press – Gambia. The National Roads Authority (NRA) recently embarked on a crucial site visit to assess the flood-affected OIC feeder roads within the Greater Banjul and West Coast region areas.
The inspection, led by the Acting Managing Director of NRA, brought together technical officers and local authorities to evaluate the severity of the damage caused by heavy downpours. Areas visited include key project sites under the ongoing Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) road infrastructure initiative, where flooding has disrupted mobility and posed safety concerns for residents and commuters.
The affected areas include: P6-Kololi Tavern-Bijilo-Bruful road, P20-Kombo Coastal road, P9-Sukuta-Wilingkama-Brufut-Ghana town road and P7-Touba Sanchaba road-Kerr Serign-Sukuta camping road.
Speaking to the press after the visit, Sulayman Sumareh Janneh, the acting managing director, expressed deep concern over the impact of the flooding but assured the public of the Authority’s swift and coordinated response.
“We are fully aware of the hardship caused by these floodwaters. The NRA, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders will immediately intervene in the most affected zones while working on long-term drainage and road improvement measures,” he added.
“We build roads to enhance people’s lives, make people enjoy their living conditions, not to worsen them. But as it appears, which is a general problem here in The Gambia currently, there’s a drainage issue because we don’t have a drainage network that helps to distribute or collect storm water,” he stated.
He emphasised that the Authority remains committed to ensuring that road infrastructure projects under the OIC programme meet resilient standards, particularly as climate patterns become more unpredictable.
Mr Sumareh urged the contractor to ensure that the open drainage systems are covered in order to avoid accidents.
Joseph Raymond Sandy, the contractor for Lot2 of the OIC roads said: “This project is not yet completed but these affected areas need urgent intervention so that the communities affected will have proper drainage systems”.
The site visit forms part of broader efforts by the NRA to monitor road conditions during the rainy season and implement responsive measures to mitigate further damage and public inconvenience.
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