September 14, 2021
PWD-Ferry Junction, Freetown – September 13, 2021: The Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) on Thursday, September 9, 2021 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Roads Authority (NRA) of The Gambia to establish communication, cooperation and collaboration between the two institutions.
The MoU was signed at the SLRA headquarters in Freetown at the end of a four-day study tour by NRA, The Gambia in Sierra Leone. The document was signed for and on behalf of the two institutions by the Director General of SLRA, Ing. Amara Jambai Kanneh and the Managing Director of NRA, The Gambia, Ing. Momodou Senghore, and was witnessed by the NRA Board Chairman, Ing. Ebrima Cham and for the SLRA Board Chairman by the Director of Administration, Mr. Sidie Mohamed Jawara who served as the chairman of the ceremony.
A five-man delegation was in Sierra Leone to understudy the operations of the country’s road sector, share ideas on road management issues and to strengthen collaboration between the two countries.
Before the signing of the MoU, a two-day interactive session was held among key institutions in the road sector and the Gambian delegation at the Radisson Blu in Freetown.
The session brought together the Ministry of Works and Public Assets, SLRA, Road Maintenance Fund Administration (RMFA) and the NRA, The Gambia, who discussed their mandates, structures, activities, opportunities and challenges faced with the road sector in both countries. Also, the SLRA led the visiting team on a tour of the Golden Quarry at Mile 38, the Magbele Bridge and Mabang Bridge construction sites.
Commenting on the relevance of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Director General of SLRA, Ing. Amara Jambai Kanneh stated that the MoU will further help to strengthen the existing relationship between the SLRA and NRA, The Gambia.
“Gambia and Sierra Leone are sister countries, we have shared many experiences with them and we have so many things in common. So, they will try to adopt and adapt to some of the issues they have seen here. We have also learnt some very useful lessons from them,” he noted.
The Managing Director of NRA, The Gambia, Ing. Momodou Senghore thanked the SLRA team for the reception and professionalism that they showed to them during the tour. “For me, what you have demonstrated is far beyond what I expected. We thought this was just going to be a short visit where we would have some engagements with you in-house, but you have taken the chance to take us round to see some of your projects.”
He noted that the study tour was not going to be the end of the relationship between the two institutions, but they will continue to engage at a greater level. Ing. Senghore expressed the NRA’s desire to welcome the SLRA delegation to The Gambia on a similar study tour.
The two West African countries share many things in common, and Ing. Senghore further revealed that most of the documentations, including the Act that established NRA, The Gambia was borrowed from Sierra Leone.
The MoU commits the two institutions to, among other things, promote cooperation on strategies for the development and implementation of projects, and identify opportunities to improve efficiency by sharing best practices between the parties.
