By Mama A. Touray
At a daylong dialogue in Mansakonko, the Secretary-General of the Senegalo-Gambia Secretariat, Dr Cherno Barry, said that Senegal has increased the Laissez-Passer (passavant) duration from ten days to one month.
Dr. Barry made this announcement following the dialogue, which was a component of the five-point agreement reached at the meeting.
He informed the media Senegal has now extended the passavant duration from ten days to one month for CFA 5000 (equivalent to D587.56), which is the same amount previously charged for ten days. Now, anyone traveling to Senegal can stay for one month, and if desired, extend their stay by an additional fifteen days for CFA 10,000 (equivalent to D1,175.11).
Barry mentioned that discussions are ongoing between the two governments to explore the possibility of lifting the passavant fee in the future. The Senegalese authorities will consult with their counterparts and provide feedback to The Gambia.
Barry remains optimistic that the payment for Laissez Passer (passavant) will be eliminated for entry into The Gambia or Senegal once the negotiations are concluded.
“The Gambia will also charge the Laissez Passer for vehicles entering the country at the same value of D5000 and also harmonise other payments with Senegal,” he said.
Barry said it should be noted that vehicles can be stopped and checked for security reasons and that truckers found breaking laws will be subjected to the full force of the law especially if they are in transit.
He also informed the media that goods from Senegal entering the Gambia will not have to pay at the exit point from Senegal and this is reciprocated for the Gambia.
On the passavant issue, Barry emphasized: “All vehicles that are in transit are not required to pay any passavant. As we said, the only payment vehicles on transit are going to pay, whether Gambian trucks or vehicles going through Senegal, or Senegalese trucks crossing through the Gambia will be the escort fee or tracker fee”.
They also agreed that all vehicles, whether Senegalese or Gambian, will pay the same tariff at the bridge at the same value in either CFA or Dalasi and that authorities will paste the fees to be visible for everyone’s attention. This, he said, will be updated according to the exchange rate as regularly as possible.
He said the Dakar dem dic and the GTSC buses will continue to pay their initial tariffs for the ferry crossing valued at CFA63,000 which is equivalent to D7,403.20 instead of the new tariff imposed on them recently.
He added that Dekar dem Dic has been accorded office space at the GTSC Banjul office.
“The conclusion here is that discussions are ongoing between the authorities of both countries, not everything could have been exhausted because there are still many other issues that are on the table.
“However, these are all within agreements that are ready to be implemented and that will improve cross-broader trade and the movement of goods and services between the two countries,” he said.
