17TH MAY, 2025

SIFOE FOREST

Thank you, Master of Ceremony.

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Honourable Cabinet Ministers, Honourable National Assembly Members, Governor, West Coast Region, Security and Service Chiefs, Senior Government Officials, Representative of The French Development Agency, Representative of the Consulting Firm, Representative of the Contractor, The Community Leaders, The Youth Women and Civil Society Groups, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I thank the Almighty Allah for the opportunity to gather here to officially launch the Water Supply Project in the Greater Banjul Area, known as WASIB. This transformative initiative marks another giant leap in our national journey towards universal access to clean and safe drinking water.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Water is one of the first basic requirements in life. It is used universally to support livelihood, health, and the sanitary needs of human beings. Water is, therefore, an everyday need. It is so essential that without it, there is no life. Thus, water provision, particularly safe and clean drinking water, is a lifesaving or life supporting mechanism.

It is in light of the importance of water to humankind that the United Nations General Assembly voted in 2010 to recognise the right to safe and clean drinking water as a Human Right. For this reason, among others, my government accords access to safe and clean drinking water special priority.

To reinforce this, we decided lately to separate NAWEC into two entities for water and electricity respectively.

The objective is to devote closer attention to developing and implementing appropriate water projects nationwide.

This strategy is expected to help achieve universal access to clean and safe drinking water, hence the launch of the WASIB project. Supported by AFD, it marks a pivotal step towards realising our national goals and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals related to clean drinking water.

Gathering here to launch this new project to provide safe and clean drinking water to more than one million people in the West Coast Region and beyond demonstrates, yet again, my government’s unwavering commitment to improving the lives of our people.

With a total investment of fifty-nine million, one hundred thousand Euros (€59.1 million), the WASIB project is partly made possible by the generous twenty-nine-million-Euro (€29 million) grant from the Government of France through the French Development Agency. In addition to this is an expected concessional facility of thirty million, one hundred thousand Euros (€30.1 million) from the European Investment Bank.

The project is initiated to have a wider coverage and to significantly and positively impact as many lives as feasible. We will pursue these objectives from three fronts: firstly, by extending NAWEC’s water network by about three hundred thousand (300,000) metres; secondly, by increasing our national water production capacity by 25%; and, for the first time in our country’s history, by tapping into water sources at depths of four hundred (400) to six hundred (600) metres.

Additionally, we will construct a state-of-the-art Water Quality Monitoring Laboratory, provide access to clean water for eighty thousand (80,000) new beneficiaries, and improve supply for nine hundred and twenty thousand (920,000) residents.

The project is structured into short-, medium-, and long-term strategic phases that involve rehabilitation works for a period of eighteen (18) months.

The design also includes constructing a new five-hundred-cubic-metre (500 m³) water treatment plant in Sifoe, to be supported by a one-thousand-two hundred-cubic-metre (1,200 m³) ground storage tank. As planned, we will commission fourteen (14) new boreholes, including four deep wells.

This medium-term component incorporates expanding the distribution network by one hundred thousand kilometres (100,000 Km) in greenfield areas and two hundred thousand kilometres (200,000 km) in brownfield zones. We expect this phase to commence in 2026 for completion in 2027.

For the long-term, the sector will undertake the Development of a Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plan for the Greater Banjul Area and other parts of the country to guide investments through 2030 to 2050.

Ladies and gentlemen, this initiative is aligned with our National Development Plan, and it supports two of the Sustainable Development Goals aimed at ensuring access to safe water and sanitation for all.

Encouraged by this development, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our partners: the Government of France, the European Investment Bank, and our dedicated consultants and contractors - ANTEA France, WATURA, SGI, GAP Consultants, and the RAZEL BEC Consortium. Their expertise and commitment are fundamentally vital for the successful completion of this ambitious national initiative.

Nothing is nobler than serving humanity, so I enjoin everyone to join us in fulfilling the people’s hopes and dreams for a truly prosperous Gambia. Together, we are not just building infrastructure, but also strengthening and guaranteeing resilience, equity, and a healthier future for every Gambian.

I thank you all for your kind attention.