The National Water and Electricity Company, (NAWEC) has recorded a loss of D3 million in 2005, compared to the anticipated profit figure of D30 million.

This was disclosed by Mousa Gibril Bala-Gaye, Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs, during the presentation of the 2007 budget of the Gambia Goverment at the National Assembly on Monday evening. He attributed the loss to high fuel prices, coupled with inadequate tariffs for water and electricity.

He said that the total turnover for Nawec in 2005 was D688M and the anticipated total turnover for 2006 is D750M. “This anticipated increase in the turnover for 2006 is based on the additional generating capacity from the Brikama Power Station, which started operations in August this year under a power purchase agreement with the Global Electrical Group (GEG)”, he said.

On The Gambia Public Transport Cooperation (GPTC), SoS Gaye said as at the end of December last year, total operating revenue stood at D15.9M. He confirmed that this year’s revenue of the cooperation has been greatly reduced due to the reduction in the school transport subsidy of D2.1 million, among others.

SoS Gaye, added that GPTC’s operating cost have gone up by 7.8 percent or D21.13 million in 2006 compared to 2005, attributing it to the increase in fuel prices, which is not matched by reciprocal increase in fares.