By Mama A. Touray
During his inspection of the ongoing construction of the University of The Gambia Faraba Campus Lot Two project, which houses the law faculty, School of Agriculture, and the chancellery building, President Adama Barrow’s hopes of inaugurating the building during this year’s Independence Anniversary were dashed, as the project—especially the chancellery building—fails to near completion.
Expressing his dissatisfaction with the state of the project, President Barrow said, “The explanation is too much. These are big contractors, and you should always try to avoid this. We are targeting to open these buildings as part of our 60th Independence Anniversary, but what we are seeing, I am not happy with. The moment I was approaching the building, it changed my mood.”
He continued, “To be honest, when I was in my office, there was a picture in my head. Definitely, that picture is not on the ground because of the target time we have for this project. The project is way behind schedule because we targeted this project to be part of our Independence Celebration,” he said.
After expressing his dissatisfaction, he held a closed-door meeting with the contractors, engineers, and consultants, after which he briefed the media.
“We have discussed with the contractor and consultant. They will give us a realistic revised work plan, and we will receive this revised work plan on Friday. We will discuss it with them to see what the realistic time frame is for completing this phase two because it is important,” he told the media.
He further informed the media that about ninety percent of the structural work for the law faculty and School of Agriculture has been completed, with only the sanctuary left for completion.
“It’s just the sanctuary that’s delayed, and there are technical issues that caused the delay, as well as issues with our donors. However, we are one hundred percent sure that we will deliver the project before the end of the year. That is our target, and we are sure of that,” he said.
Barrow, however, urged the contractors to work harder in delivering the project. “The company is a big company, and they have the capacity to do more than what they are doing. So, we are encouraging them to stretch their muscles to make sure we achieve completing phase two.”
