{"id":58811,"date":"2024-05-24T07:38:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T07:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border"},"modified":"2024-05-24T08:07:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T08:07:25","slug":"cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border","title":{"rendered":"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The Cement Importers and Traders Association (CITA) has renewed its call on the Gambia government to allow into the country the numerous cement-laden trucks that were stranded at the Gambia-Senegal border since May 16th.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In April this year, the Gambia government astronomically increased the levy on 30-ton truck of Senegal-imported cement by 600%, shooting it up from D30,000 to D180,000.<\/p>\n<p>The government said it\u2019s move was neccessitated by the need to protect local cement \u201cproducers\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, an investigation has revealed that the Gambia government had no cement company to protect because none of the so-called cement factories was producing cement locally as they all depended on imported cement from Morocco, Senegal and other destinations. Contrary to the government\u2019s claim of protectionism, all cement sold in The Gambia were either imported in bags or in powderized form.<\/p>\n<p>The CITA convened a press conference in Farafenni on Wednesday during which, it made an impassioned call on President Adama Barrow\u2019s government to save struggling cement traders from going out of business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe that the cement levy increase has not followed due process and we\u2019ve not been able to trade since the augmentation. Look at the sheer number of cement-laden vehicles stranded here and are unable to discharge their cargo since May 16th,\u201d CITA treasurer Alhagie Mbye stated in an interview with this reporter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis blockade is seriously hampering our businesses as no-one was able to trade for almost one week now. It has also hugely affected construction projects as no single cement entity could satisfy the demand for cement. Customers have started experiencing issues.There is no cement factory here. So why should they ban cement imports?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Mbye said he was convinced that the President was ill-informed about the cement issue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reason for the increase may be due to a misunderstanding. He was misinformed. There is no factory here that manufactures cement. Those calling themselves factories have been importing cement from Senegal,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Jah Oil, Momodou Hydara, admitted that Jah Oil brings in its own vessel of cement when this reporter spoke to him as he investigated the matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJah Oil imports its own cement&#8230; full vessel alone. Check with the ports,\u201d said Mr. Hydara.<\/p>\n<p>This reporter also discovered that Gacem has been struggling, financially since its acquisition by Indian investors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe company is even struggling to import its own vessel of cement,\u201d it was discovered.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\">Gambia<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. The Cement Importers and Traders Association (CITA) has renewed its call on the Gambia government to allow into the country the numerous cement-laden trucks that were stranded at the Gambia-Senegal border since May 16th. In April this year, the Gambia government astronomically increased the levy on 30-ton truck of Senegal-imported cement by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":58810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-58811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Cement Importers and Traders Association (CITA) has renewed its call on the Gambia government to allow into the c ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Cement Importers and Traders Association (CITA) has renewed its call on the Gambia government to allow into the c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-24T07:38:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-24T08:07:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-24T07:38:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-24T08:07:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border\"},\"wordCount\":431,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border\",\"name\":\"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-24T07:38:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-24T08:07:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The Cement Importers and Traders Association (CITA) has renewed its call on the Gambia government to allow into the c ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border - Gambia","description":"The Cement Importers and Traders Association (CITA) has renewed its call on the Gambia government to allow into the c ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border","og_description":"The Cement Importers and Traders Association (CITA) has renewed its call on the Gambia government to allow into the c ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-05-24T07:38:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-24T08:07:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border","datePublished":"2024-05-24T07:38:03+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-24T08:07:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border"},"wordCount":431,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Gambia","Gambia"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border","name":"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg","datePublished":"2024-05-24T07:38:03+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-24T08:07:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The Cement Importers and Traders Association (CITA) has renewed its call on the Gambia government to allow into the c ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/05\/sm_1716525119.367435.jpg","width":1200,"height":700,"caption":"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/cita-calls-on-govt-to-release-stranded-cement-laden-trucks-at-border#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CITA Calls on Gov\u2019t to Release Stranded Cement-Laden Trucks At Border"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}