A delegation of senior officials from the OIC Secretariat in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, including its Assistant Secretary for Political Affairs leading the efforts to inspect Gambia’s preparations and readiness for the upcoming Heads of State and Government Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Gambia, has praised the National Authority (NRA) for the level of progress registered in a short period on the ongoing construction of the 22km OIC Bertil Harding Highway.

The delegation’s mission was to inspect the level of preparedness and the ongoing construction of the OIC Bertil Harding Highway leading to the conference centre and the hotel ahead of the scheduled 15th OIC Heads of State Summit in Banjul from the 4th – to the 5th of May 2024.

Speaking during the courtesy visit to NRA, H.E. Ambassador Yousef M. Al-Dobeay, the Assistant Secretary for Political Affairs of the OIC Secretariat in Saudi Arabia, thanked the National Roads Authority (NRA) for all the efforts it is doing right now for the success of the Summit in a few weeks.

“When we left the airport to our hotel, we realized that the Gambia had made a massive development in terms of the infrastructure of the roads compared to our last visit.”

After their last visit to the Gambia, he said, they received a lot of questions from investors pertaining to the readiness of the Gambia to host the summit.

“We as inspectors, have the obligation to inform the Member States what we have observed and witnessed by ourselves as they all are waiting for us to return with our assessment and make recommendations based on our perception of the country’s readiness to host the summit and the heads of state securely comfortable.”

According to him, what their people are asking for now is not the accommodation but the road condition. He added that what they have witnessed this time around made them very happy and comfortable to respond to Member States positively when they return to Jeddah.

For his part, H.E Omar Gibril Sallah, Gambian Ambassador in Jeddah also expressed happiness to the entire NRA team through its managing director for the level of work progress.

“We are very happy for the entire NRA team through its Managing Director for making us proud in the level of progress on the construction of the road.”

Ousman Sanyang, Managing Director, NRA said the physical progress of the road as of January was at 80% but the real progress is at 76%.

Given the pace at which the contractor is moving, he said there is confidence that the planned completion date of August 2024 will be met.

He also informed the delegation about the upcoming massive campaign the NRA is planning to educate people about the usage of the latest infrastructure which the country is getting for the first time.

“We have never had two-by-three roads in the country with flyovers. We have made quite good progress right now and by April, there will be more progress on the roads,” he told the inspection team.

Sulayman Sumareh Janneh, deputy managing director of the National Roads Authority (NRA) said he is delighted that the inspection team from Jeddah are happy with the level of progress in the ongoing construction thus far.

“Although the project started implementation before our arrival at the NRA, we are thankful for having a good and young team to be able to work together with our experience to help the country be successful in hosting the Summit.

He went on to assure the delegation that the Gambia is a growing country while expressing hope of using this project to demonstrate their potential for the country and as Gambians.

“We are ready and welcome ideas and investments that would help to continue doing such projects in the Gambia.

Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the second largest organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. The Organization is the collective voice of the Muslim world. It endeavours to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world.