Editorial
 
It is now a little over 15 years since the government under the leadership of President Jammeh embarked on a massive development programme in this country. With infrastructure being the catalyst for any meaningful socio-economic development, the leadership wasted no time in ensuring that the country got the necessary infrastructure to propel growth, within a short span of time. Thus good road networks, adequate water and electricity supply, just to mention a few, became permanent features in The Gambia.
 
The recent signing by the honourable minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Abdou Colley, of a funding agreement with the Saudi Fund for International Development amounting to  14 million US dollars for the construction of the Brikama Darsilameh-Dimbaya road is another significant move by government to cement and consolidate our development process. Sober-minded people would concur that it is only a government that has the people at heart and is determined to work for their interest, that would venture into such life-smoothening projects. 
 
Our argument on this point is simple; we should not lose sight of the fact that The Gambia is an agro-based economy, with the back-to-the-land scheme pivotal to our development process. An important step the authorities took in order to facilitate a booming agricultural sector was the construction of good feeder roads linking the main production areas and the markets in the urban centres. With good roads in place, farmers are motivated to plunge into large-scale farming and hanker for more profit-making. This is because market accessibility becomes easy for them. 
 
The more people we have on the field, the more the possibility for productivity. Remember that without an efficient highway system; the positive gains achieved from the close proximity of people and businesses could be completely offset by the gridlock of the movement of people and goods, and the inability to meet the basic needs of densely populated areas. Therefore, constructing a road linking one of the country's biggest economic epicentres to its suburbs can only enhance the operations of petty traders particularly women vendors who are predominant in that community, thus enhancing the women empowerment scheme of the state.
 
The time has come for Gambians to be aware that there is ample evidence to suggest that the demands of the people are the utmost priority of the leadership.  The leadership is making every effort to keep the pace and momentum of our development process and creating an enabling environment full of opportunities.