Africa-Press – Gambia. I write with deep sorrow to learn that the Gambia Government has decided to mortgage the Senegambia Bridge for 25 years at a value of $100m with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 15%.
Honourable Touray, the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs attended a meeting in Lomé, capital of Togo from Monday 3rdJuly to Tuesday 4thJuly 2023, where he signed two agreements with Africa50. One of these agreements is the Joint Development Agreement which relates to the mortgaging of the bridge and the other one,“Heads of Terms Agreement”, which he did not elaborate on.
Honourable Touray, these agreements are flawed in a number of fronts and I will break these down for you and for those who may not understand confusing economic jargons that so called intellectuals use to justify their unjustifiable actions.
Considering the budget deficit of at least D6bn consistently embedded in the budget year on year, this government has no serious plans to address the revenue loss highlighted above. The minister mentioned that the funds would be used for infrastructure development without indicating how he would substitute the loss of D180m per year. I know the only option left with the government is to issue more treasury bills and Sukuks to meet their recurrent expenditure needs. This means more borrowing adding to the already bloated debt stock of over D100bn (D102bn per April 2023 figures).
Currently, we earn D180m per year from the Bridge (This figure is quoted from Bai Lamin Jobe’s 2020 address to the National Assembly). For the next 25 years, we will potentially earn D4.5bn (US$76.8m). For Africa50 to recover their US$100m plus 15% IRR (a total of US$115m) equivalent to D6.7bn within 25 years, they will have to either increase charges or to engage on massive redundancies to cut cost or both in order to achieve this. There is no assurance from the minister that Africa50 will not increase toll charges or embark on massive redundancies and as such, I am concerned that my people from Baddibu will mostly be at the receiving end of this government’s reckless borrowing spree.
Honourable Touray, I know there are so many so called intellectuals in the country who for reasons best known to them are screaming at the top of their voices that this is a good deal for the country. Contrary to that Honourable Touray, they only look at what prevails in other countries with regards to Asset Backed Securities without noting that asset recycling practices and policies may differ among countries and regions, as they are influenced by local contexts, political priorities, and economic conditions. The specific timeline and development of asset recycling in different regions or countries may vary based on their individual circumstances and policy agendas. This concept works well in environments where the funds generated are re-invested into the productive base of the economy thereby generating consistent excess revenue for the government to substitute the lost revenue from the mortgaged asset and spend on social welfare.
Honourable, I am in agreement with Nyang Njie also re-echoing his concerns that the valuation of the bridge, the utilisation of the funds and the general governance mechanisms appear to be missing in this scheme and are worth considering. As a result, I am sending this petition for the following to happen:
I am writing this open petition but also giving permission to any and everyone who wishes to use this write up as a springboard to follow due processes to file a formal petition to the National Assembly. I am urging all well meaning Gambians to support this petition to ensure that the National Assembly does the needful to protect our public institutions and national assets from scavengers.
No matter how you look at this scheme, fellow Gambians, it is nothing other than a scheme by our government to put more people in misery and destitution, whilst they continue to try and satisfy their insatiable desire to wreck the economy and eventually sell the country to the highest bidder.
Nuha Ceesay, Leeds United Kingdom
Source: point
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