Lamin Bojang, the secretary of state for Works, Construction and Infrastructure has informed members of the National Asembly that Phase II of the construction of the Farafenni Market is expected to begin in September, 2009.

Responding to a parliamentary question at the first meeting of the Assembly in the 2009 Legislative year, SoS Bojang said the second phase of construction works of the market are being funded under the Third Public Works Project,  implemented by The Gambia Agency for the Management of Public Works (GAMWORKS) on behalf of the government of The Gambia.

"In accordance with the loan agreement between government and the OPEC Fund for International Development, GAMWORKS had to go through a rigorous and transparent process for the recruitment of the design consultant," he noted.

According to him, the current implementation schedule shows that tender notice for the construction works will go out in July, 2009, signalling the beginning of the recruitment process for the contractor, using national competitive bidding procedures. Asked by the NAM for Nianija constituency if there are any plans for them to have a good road network connecting major villages and business centres to ease the transportation difficulties of both passengers and farm produce within and outside the Nianija area, the secretary of state for Works, Construction & Infrastructure, had this to say:

"The Hon. member may agree with me that the recently completed Farafenni-Laminkoto road made a huge impact in facilitating transportation of people and goods in his constituency in particular and in the North Bank region in general." According to him, the objective of his department of state is to provide good roads in all parts of the country.

Mandina-Ba-Soma road
According to SoS Bojang, the surfacing of Mandina-Ba - Soma road is hot mixed asphalt, which is manufactured using a special plant. The contractor, MA Kharafi and Sons, he said, has only one such plant which is presently being used in the airport project and supplies the project at the Mandina-Ba - Soma  Road project. As a result, SoS  Bojang added, the bituminization of the Mandina-Ba - Soma project also suffered a delay.