The African Development Bank last week extended a $3 million grant to The Gambia for sustainable urban development of the Greater Banjul Area.

The grant came from the Bank’s Transition Support Facility (TSF).

A tripartite project signing ceremony between the Ministry of Finance, United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS) and the African Development Bank took place on July 22, 2019 at the offices of the Ministry of Finance in Banjul.

The activities of the project will include capacity building and the formulation of a master plan for urban development using digital technologies which are intended to greatly improve the operational efficiency of the three municipalities (Banjul, Kanifing and Brikama), and also provide support to the Banjul port expansion.

The Greater Banjul Area: Sustainable Urban Development Programme 2020-40 will serve as a pilot with implications for the roll-out country-wide.

The United Nations Office for Projects Services in The Gambia is implementing the project and already carried out a stakeholder workshop in conjunction with the Bank on  June 17-18, 2019 at the Atlantic Hotel in Banjul during which local stakeholders provided inputs to the master plan and the launching of the project.

Stakeholder consultations are still on-going and more data is being captured to assure a successful development of an integrated and well informed greater Banjul area digital master plan.