Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Gamworks financial inflow is 211M: Report

Gamworks has been criticised by the National Assembly in the past for presiding over the construction of substandard roads (Photo: Gambia road)
An internal report of Gambia Agency for the Management of Public Works (Gamworks) has revealed the Agency received inflows of funds totalling D211million in 2011.

Out of this amount, payments to contractors totalled D158 million; D4 million was paid to consultants and D3 million paid to other service providers, the report said. 

In the year under review two projects and thirteen Delegated Management Contracts (DMCs) were under implementation by the Agency.

The report “Gamworks annual activity and financial statement 2011” was subjected to scrutiny on Monday Jan. 4, 3013 by a joint session of the Public Accounts and Public Enterprises committees (PAC/PEC) of the National Assembly in Banjul, the capital. 

In 2011, the Agency's total income was D26, 197, 721 compared to D22, 481, 214 in 2010.
While the total expenditure of the Agency in the same period stands at D25, 636, 349, giving them a surplus of D561, 372, compared to the 2010 expenditure of D22, 269, 711 and a surplus of D211, 503.

Gamworks has been criticised in the past by the National Assembly for presiding over the implementation of sub-standard projects like road construction.

Gamworks intervention is classified into two categories: One, projects in their entirety are implemented by the Agency on behalf of the Gambia Government and her development partners. 

Two, Gamworks acts as a Delegated Management Contractor (DMC) and implement components of projects, notably in the area of civil works and infrastructure, on behalf of the sectors.

The report noted that the Gambia Government received financing in the form of US$15.86 million loan and a Technical Assistant Grant of US$400, 000 from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) - towards the cost of the Community-based Infrastructure and Livelihood Improvement Project (CILIP) which is being implemented.

Additional financing is provided by way of counterpart contributions by the Government of The Gambia (US$880, 000), local councils and sub-project beneficiaries (US$880, 000) - to give a total project cost of US$18.02 million.

Gamworks Director General Mr. Ebrima Cham said the aim of the CILIP project is to support government's strategy to alleviate poverty in the rural and peri-urban areas.
The Gambia had also signed a Grant Agreement with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for the financing of the Technical Assistance and Capacity Building for Project Management (TACB). 

Photo credit: Gamworks
In this agreement, the IDB will contribute US$290, 000 as grant while the Gambia Government will put in counterpart contribution of US$17, 000 to give a total project cost of US$307, 000.

The objective of the TACB project is to build the capacity of ministries and project management units, so as to ensure the timely delivery of IDB-funded projects in The Gambia, Mr Cham explains. 

The Project is to be implemented by Gamworks on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs. 

According to the report, Gamworks has signed many multi-million contracts under the Delegated Management Contracts (DMCs). 

They include: the Labour Intensive Technologies and Waste Management (GoTG/UNDP, D8.971million); Construction of Technical and Vocational Education Centre in Ndemban, West Coast Region (Taiwan ICDF, US$2.83million); Rehabilitation of Warehouses in Banjul (GoTG, D10.5million); the rehabilitation of the Office of The Ombudsman, Cape Point (GoTG, D2.04million); the construction of Military Outposts (GoTG, D64million); and the Construction of the ACE Submarine Cable Station and Associated facilities (Gamtel, D53million).

Significant delays

“There is always likely to be constraints and risks due to the nature of the operations of Gamworks,” claims Mr Cham but said”the challenge is for management to manage the constraints and minimise risk to the Agency's operations.” 

The Gamworks DG said the Agency’s main constraints in 2011 were the significant delays in payment of invoices by some of the sectors and non-receipt of Gambia Government counterpart contribution stipulated in loan agreements.

“As the Agency does not receive any direct subvention from the Government Budget, Gamworks relies entirely on management fees and project implementation support to sustain the operations of the Agency,” he said. 

“The biggest challenge faced by management continues to be mobilisation of resources to fund the operations of Gamworks,” he added.

However, Cham said Agency will continue to engage the sectors and public institutions in new project and contracts, and will continue to intensify resource mobilisation efforts in the form of new projects and DMCs. 

GPPA review

Samba J.B Tambura, a compliance officer at the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA), said the procurement transactions of Gamworks have not been reviewed by GPPA over the period.

Failing to explain why, Mr Tambura continued:  “As a result, the Authority does not have any issue relating to Gamworks procurement to report on during the period under consideration.”

Before adopting the report, the National Assembly Deputy Speaker Hon. Fatou Mbye commended Gamworks for what she called “the quality of their annual report and quality service delivery in public office”.

Written by Modou S. Joof

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