News and Events

Department of Water Resources Gets New Office Structure Worth Over D15M

• March 2nd, 2021
• Fatou B. Cham, Information Officer, Ministry of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters

Dep’t of Water Resources Gets New Office Structure Worth Over D15M

The Climate Smart Rural Wash Development Project (CSRWP) for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation on Monday, 1st March, 2021 handed over a new office structure worth over fourteen 15 million Dalasis to the Department of Water Resources.
Funded by the African Development Bank (AIDB), the project is designed with an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) perspective with focus on water and sanitation infrastructure and services development, waste management infrastructure and services, water resources management, environment and climate change adaptation, as well as cross-cutting human resources and logistical capacity building, including empowering local communities to become active partners.
The overall goal of the project is to improve the socio-economic and environmental conditions of selected rural and peri-urban population through improved access to sustainable WASH infrastructure and services, as reflected in the National Development Plan’s goal of ‘improving equitable access to safe and affordable water supply and sanitation, good hygiene practices and environmental protection promoted for all’.
Ida Sissoho, project coordinator, CSRWP, gave a brief background information of the construction project, saying the idea was conceived in 2018 by the AIBD when they came for project appraisal of the Climate Smart Rural Wash Project following the conclusion of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation project. “After the closure of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation project, the Climate Smart project was developed and that was when they found the project staff in a small old, not-health fit building which was located at the back of the Ministry with asbestos,” she elucidated; hence the proposal for a new office building to enable staff to work in a more conducive environment.
Madam Sissoho further unveiled that the construction of the building was contracted to Santa Yalla Business Centre, a Gambian-owned company.
She however intimated that the project at some point was suspended due to the fire outbreak and the outbreak of the global Covid19 pandemic. Despite that fact, she noted, with the supervision of the Ministry of Works, they were able to complete the construction of the building in a very short period of time.
For his part, James F.P Gomes, Minister of Fisheries and Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, expressed gratitude for the gesture, extolling the fact that the project was contracted to a Gambian.
The minister then assured of the proper use and maintenance of the building