The Gambian leader, Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, yesterday, in the afternoon, embarked on a tour of two important projects, first a ship building site and then his vast Farato Farm in Kombo South.

The ship building site houses A & A Company, a Dubai ship building firm located at the Denton Bridge in Banjul. The company is reported to have started operations way back in the 1950s in Dubai and Pakistan, and has since been engaged in activities ranging from trading, construction and boat building.

Accompanied by secretaries of state and senior government officials, President Jammeh and entourage were received on arrival by Riaz Mirza, the director of A & A Company in The Gambia, and were later taken on a conducted tour of  a mighty wooden vessel under construction.

The company, according to the officials, constructs various kind of vessels, ranging from tourist, cargo, luxury to passenger vessels; photos of these vessels were shown to the president. The Gambian leader also had the opportunity to see an already constructed fishing trawler which, according to the officials, was constructed in 2007. A&A Company first came to The Gambia in 1998, and it eventually opened what it calls a new chapter in reviving the boat building industry in the country.

The second leg of President Jammeh’s tour was at his Farato Farm, a vast piece of land that links the villages of Farato and Bojang Kunda. Measuring 1.3 kilometres long and 400 metres wide, the fencing of the farm has already started, and President Jammeh was clearly impressed with the progress made so far. Speaking to reporters at the end of the tour of the farm, the Gambian leader revealed his intention to use the land purely for agricultural ventures, saying that he intends to transform it into a massive farming centre.  

He further revealed plans to use part of the farm for animal husbandry, pointing out that there are certain animals that do well in the semi urban area rather than in the rural area - animals from some areas in the sub-region such as Senegal, Mali and Mauritania. “We are going to do cross breeding of different species of cattles on the farm. The land will also be used for horticultural activities, and also for planting of medicinal trees such as the Noni tree,” the president said, and added that Noni plant has become the biggest money earning botanical venture in the world.

Commenting on his earlier visit to the A&A ship building company at the Denton Bridge in Banjul, President Jammeh described the company as one of a kind in The Gambia, coming after  many years of a slump in the boat building industry in the country.
“I was made to understand that The Gambia used to build what they call River Quarters which used to go from here to Congo.  So building ships in The Gambia today is very important because I think in the whole of West Africa, The Gambia is the only place where wooden vessels are being built, which is a big plus for us,” he said.

This initiative, according to The Gambian leader, will also help in boosting the country’s tourism industry. President Jammeh described the boat building initiative as important for the country both in terms of economy and technology transfer. River transport being one of the most important and cheap means of transportation, the Gambian leader noted that reviving it constitutes one of the most important things his government is going to consider. The reasons being, he added, the fact that it encourages trade along the River Gambia, and also reduces pressure on the highways. He stated that river transport will go a long way in encouraging eco-tourism.

The Gambian leader went on to say that the boat building initiative at Denton Bridge could also boost the fisheries sector. “They can build small boats for artisanal fishing and also trawlers for those companies that want to use them for trawling.  It is more cost effective and environmentally friendly,” he stated.

Professor Jammeh used the opportunity to call on Gambian youths to change their attitudes and their perspective of the world, stressing that indigenous ventures that Gambians used to do are now being taken over by foreigners. “The world is not about having a neck-tie and working in the office, it is about being trained, acquiring skills, employing yourself and earning your living.  And that’s why I am happy to see young Gambians working at the construction project at Farato farm. This is because I know that if you pay them, the money stays in the country, but if you pay foreigners, no matter how much it is, it goes out of the country,” he said.

President Jammeh went on to stress that he wants to see that whatever is being spent by his government, as well as other individuals in the socio-economic development endeavour of the country,  stays here in The Gambia. His government, he disclosed, has spent millions of dalasis in contracting foreigners to build our roads, when Gambians could have done the same thing. “We have to be independent, and for us to be independent, we have to be able to do 98 percent of what we need to do to develop our country,” he stated, while calling for an end to the dependency syndrome.

The Gambian leader went on to express disappointment with the youths, citing the recent shortage of fish in the market during the feast of Mawlud Nabi as unfortunate. He stressed that the Gambian youths should not build the concept of depending on foreigners for our mothers to be able to cook fish.