By Politico staff writer
A five-man delegation from Gambia’s National Road Safety Authority (NRA) has completed a study tour on the operations of Sierra Leone’s road sector, sharing ideas on road management issues and strengthening collaboration between the two countries.
At the end of the four days tour, the visiting team on the 9th of September 2021 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) to establish communication, cooperation and collaboration between the two institutions.
The MoU commits the two institutions to, among other things, promote cooperation on strategies for the development and implementation of projects, and identify opportunities to improve efficiency by sharing best practices between the parties.
Prior to the signing of the MoU, a two-day interactive session was held among key institutions in host country’s road sector and the Gambian delegation at the Radisson Blu hotel in Freetown.
The session brought together the Ministry of Works and Public Assets, SLRA, Road Maintenance Fund Administration (RMFA) and Gambia’s NRA , and discussed their mandates, structures, activities, opportunities and challenges faced with the road sector in both countries. Also, the SLRA led the visiting team on a tour of the Golden Quarry at Mile 38, the Magbele Bridge and Mabang Bridge construction sites.
Commenting on the relevance of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Director General of SLRA, Ing. Amara Jambai Kanneh said it will further help strengthen the existing relationship between the SLRA and NRA, and the Gambia.
“Gambia and Sierra Leone are sister countries, we have shared many experiences with them and we have so many things in common. So, they will try to adopt and adapt to some of the issues they have seen here. We have also learnt some very useful lessons from them,” he noted.
In his statement, the Managing Director of NRA, Gambia, Ing. Momodou Senghore thanked the SLRA team for the reception and professionalism demonstrated during the tour. “For me, what you have demonstrated is far beyond what I expected. We thought this was just going to be a short visit where we would have some engagements with you in-house, but you have taken the chance to take us round to see some of your projects,” he said.
He added that the study tour was not going to be the end of the relationship between the two institutions, but that they will continue to engage at a greater level. Ing. Senghore expressed the NRA’s desire to welcome the SLRA delegation to the Gambia on a similar study tour.
The two West African countries share many things in common for which Ing. Senghore said most of the documentations, including the Act that established NRA, the Gambia were borrowed from Sierra Leone.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (15/09/21)
