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| Gamworks has been criticised by the National Assembly in the past for presiding over the construction of substandard roads (Photo: Gambia road) |
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).
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| Photo credit: Gamworks |
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”.
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Written by Modou S. Joof
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