Gambia’s Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Abdoulie Jobe, has disclosed serious contractual and construction failures surrounding a multimillion-dalasi eco-lodge development programme intended to boost tourism in rural communities.
Speaking before the National Assembly of the Gambia on Wednesday, the minister told lawmakers that several eco-lodge projects worth more than 118 million dalasis remain incomplete years after payments were made to the contractor.
The revelation came during a question-and-answer session in response to a query from the member for Sami, Alfusainey Ceesay, who asked the minister to provide the status of eco-lodge developments, particularly the Mungo Park eco-tourism project in his constituency.
Jobe told the Assembly that on March 24, 2020, the Gambia Tourism Board, under the then Director General Abdoulie Hidara, awarded a contract to Lerr Group to construct five eco-lodges across the country.
The projects were to be built in Barra, Kunkiling, Sotuma Sambakoi, Nyanga Bantang and Arafat, at a contract value of D111,690,525, with completion initially scheduled for September 30, 2021.
Under the agreement, the contractor received a 40 percent advance payment amounting to over D38.8 Million on April 6, 2020.
Jobe further told lawmakers that in June of the same year, the then Director General of the Tourism Board, Abubacarr Camara, approved three contract addendums totalling D6,881,000, raising the overall contract value to D118,571,910.
According to the minister, the Tourism Board has so far paid the contractor more than D72 million, representing 61 percent of the total contract value.
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