By Yusef Taylor, @Flex Dan reporting from Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh
The Gambia’s Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (MoHERST) has confirmed to Gainako that they have secured additional funding of US$15 Million from the Arab Bank of Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) after receiving US$7 Million from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) in December 2021.
This brings the total funding secured up to US$22 Million, equivalent to over D1.1 billion at a rate of D53 to US$1. MoHERST Officials say they have secured the funding required to complete the construction of the University of the Gambia’s (UTG) Faraba Campus.
This development was revealed in an exclusive interview with MoHERST top-ranking officials in the persons of the Hon Minister Pierre Gomez, the Deputy Permanent Secretary (DPS) Dr Yusupha Touray and Project Manager Abdoulie Sowe on Sunday 5th June 2022. The three officials are currently at the tail end of a trip to Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh where the Gambian Delegation was led by the Minister of Finance, Hon Seedy Keita who was also accompanied by the Governor of Central Bank Buah Saidy amongst others. The IsDB just concluded its 2022 Annual Meetings in Egypt which gathered over 2,000 participants including donors and stakeholders from its 57 member countries.
UTG Faraba Project Started 12 Years Ago says MoHERST Minister Gomez
Speaking to MoHERST Minister Hon Pierre Gomez via telephone he explained that the main objective of their “mission is to ensure that within a short period, Faraba is delivered because it has taken 12 years now since the project started. It was around 2006 that they signed the contract for the building but the whole process started 12 years ago, so up until now it is not complete and we want to make sure that it is done”. The former UTG Professor recently sworn in as the Minister of MoHERST reiterated that their mission was “to engage the donors and we are lucky to have a very dynamic Minister of Finance in Hon Seedy Keita who facilitated things for us so that we got the support and the pledges”.
According to a publication on the IsDB website a co-financing agreement was signed on 25th May 2021 between BADEA, represented by CEO Dr Sidi Oud TAH and IsDB, represented by President Dr Bandar Hajjar to boost funding of development projects in Africa. The publication notes that “the agreement focuses on co-financing over the period 2021-2024”.
“In the past ten years, IsDB and BADEA have co-financed more than a dozen projects in Ivory Coast, Guinea, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Chad, Niger, Togo and Mozambique. These co-financing operations were in sectors such as education, water, sanitation, urban development, agriculture, transportation, energy, health and trade,” read the article.
We’ve Closed the Funding Gap for Faraba Construction says MoHERST DPS
MoHERST DPS Technical, Dr Yusupha Touray also believes that “it has a been a very successful mission for us because we’ve had this project for the past 12 years and we thank God we’re coming to close to the most important component, which is the Fixed Component”. Dr Touray explains that the UTG Faraba Project “has been divided into two components; the Fixed and Conditional,” Packages.
“When we calculated the Fixed, the Gambia Government was to pay a huge chunk”, however, this was revised after it was considered unfeasible said DPS Dr Touray. The Government resorted to engaging donors who “promised to take up the [Fixed] Component” and have been engaging donors since 2019/20 to conclude the funding required for the Fixed Component explained DPS Dr Touray.
“We had a gap of US$22 Million for the first component, IsDB pledged US$7 Million and now we’ve got the US$15 from BADEA,” said Dr Touray. “We’ve nailed the University now and we’ve had all that we need to complete the most important component and there are promises to even come in for the Conditional Package something we will have to take up when we go back to the Gambia with the Ministry of Finance and Cabinet. We’re glad to say that the Ministry is out of the woods now,” he said.
IsDB Egypt Mission Helped Address Longest Serving UTG Project
Project Manager Mr Abdoulie Sowe explained that “the project started in 2010 with five different donors of the Arab Group”. MoHERST took two years to “align the different procurement procedures and different financing arrangements because the financing arrangement for each donor” was different said Sowe. More delays were encountered as the hiring of the Design Consultant was conducted “through an international competitive bidding,” said Project Manager Sowe.
After the design was done and sent to the government a redesign was requested “which led to a huge funding gap, then we went through a procurement process and then we identified a contractor but because of the nature of the design the contract was divided into two lots,” said Mr Sowe.
The Project Manager explained that the two lots are identified as Lot 1 (Fixed Package – US$54) and Lot 2 (Conditional Package – US$49 Million), making a total of US$104 Million that was for the construction of the whole design.
“However, the Gambia Government was to contribute US$17 Million for the construction of the first package, which has not been forthcoming. After two years in 2018 government could not meet up, with the change of government, the government could not meet up the challenges so we had to repackage them to Lot 1 and Lot 2. Lot 1 based on the resources that are already available which is about US$37 Million and Lot 2 which is US$17 Million including contingencies makes it US$22 Million. Now Lot 1 is almost 85% to 90% complete,” said Mr Sowe.
According to the Project Manager, the MoHERST has “started the negotiations for Lot 2 thanks to the IsDB financing agreement” outlined earlier (IsDB US$7 Million and BADEA US$15 Million). He added that now the MoHERST is “just waiting for the legal opinion of the Government and subject to National Assembly approval”.
“We are even expecting the BADEA Delegation around the 20th of June 2022 to do the appraisal for the US$15 Million, so hopefully everything will go on now with the Fixed Package. We have also started engaging the Kuwaiti for the Conditional Package, we met them during the mission and we’ve discussed with them to support the University Package and they’re willing,” said Mr Sowe.
According to the Project Manager, Ministers from MoHERST and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) will discuss the way forward and engage their partners through the MoFEA to access more funds for the Conditional Package. When questioned on the loan conditions Mr Sowe explained that the US$15 Million BADEA loan agreement is similar to the US$7 Million IsDB Loan agreed in December 2021 which are both “concessional loans”. Both loans are to be repaid over a period of 25 years, including a grace period of 7 years.
1 Comment
This is extremely wonderful. We thank ADB and BADEA for the support. We are glad that the UTG Faraba project will soon get to an end. For far too long, students have been suffering with classes, auditoriums, dormitories and other Educational facilities.
We are glad it is finally happening at the time of Prof Pierre Gomez as Minister of Higher Education and President Barrow.