NAM Reveals Gov’t Pledge to Construct Bundung Highway
The National Assembly Member for Bundung-Ka Kunda Constituency,Honourable Sulayman Jammeh, has recently informed his Bundung electorates that the Gambia government has promised to rehabilitate the road of Bundung as commercial drivers’ ply through the Bundung Highway have abandoned it due to the bad condition of the road, with various drivers’ complains to have suffered a great lost and damages of their vehicles as a result of the bad condition of the road.
This news came with a restoration of hope and confidence for the neighborhood and commuters as the Gambia government has pledged to lift the burden on them by rehabilitating the road soon. The Parliamentarian made these remarks recently as he toured to the destructive Bundung highway.
The tour was done prior to commercial drivers’ ply and numerous complains of lost and damages of road users.
This has left many commuters stranded as they struggle on daily bases while some would have to trek from Bundung to Serrekunda, as there is no current commercial vehicles for transportation.
Due to this situation, some drivers are said to used the opportunity to exploit commuters as they continued to charge them more than the normal transport fares.
In his tour, Honorable Jammeh outlined on the conditions of the Bundung highway, that his electorates are dear to his heart, which as result, anytime he uses the road,he deeply feels the struggle his people encounters.
“I am also happy to inform my people that during the questions and answers session at the National Assembly last week, I posted a question to the Honorable Minister of Transport and the Minister responded that the construction of the road will commence soon as it is part of the OIC projects,” he said.
Honorable Jammeh however, acknowledged that the nature of the road is very bad and gives a bad image to Bundung as it is the only highway there, while he described Bundung as a community that has registered the worst road in this year’s rainy season.
However, he further appealed to the people of Bundung to exercise patience as the Minister of Transport assured him at the parliament that the said road will be fixed soon.
“This said road needs urgent action, the authorities responsible should prioritize it and make sure that it is urgently taken care of because it is not only leaving commuters stranded for transportation but it also serves as economic loss to drivers and commercial vehicles owners,” he said.
During his engagement with the press, Jammeh seized the opportunity to buttress on the scarcity of water in Bundung and surrounding communities.
“We have been lamenting on this scarcity of water for the past years, but the situation still remains the same and even gets worse by day. Many women now woke up at 3 am just to hunt for water,” he said. While he suggested that the National Water and Electrical Company (NAWEC) should come up with alternatives to remedy the situation.
He said that NAWEC can establish sub water tanks in areas where people are struggling to get water to ease their burden.
“Since when I was a Councilor, i got the opportunity to dig a borehole at my home, I decided not to dig any, because I want to feel the pain my people are going through. Recently I had decided to fix a borehole and supply water to my neighbors because the boarding is too much now,” he said.
He further urged NAWEC to engage the affected communities like Bundung and come up with lasting solutions.
Dodou Sengehore, the Director of the National Road Authority, said the Bundung highway is part of the OIC project that they are so much concerned about, because its location is in the middle of Serrekunda.
“Contractors should submit proposals to the consultant before contracts are awarded because we don’t want any delay. The proposal will inform the consultant how the project will be implemented and when the proposal is approved the contract will be asked to start work immediately,” he said.
Director Sengehore said as they want to kick start the road construction immediately after the rainy season, he assured that the road will have drainage on both sides.
