GPA to sign agreement with Albayrak to invest in Banjul Port

Managing Director Joe Batay, who made the remarks at a staff sensitization meeting held at the GPA building in Banjul yesterday (Tuesday), said the public-private partnership will enable the Albayrak & Negmar consortium to invest in Banjul Port over the next 35 years to increase the port’s capacity.

He said the concession was established on the model of grantor and shareholder arrangement, which means the government or GPA is both the owner and shareholder of the concession.

He said the agreement will be signed this month (July). However, he added that there will be a six-month precondition before the contract comes into effect.

Managing Director Joe Batt stressed that the agreement fully protects the interests of employees, noting that all employees will be transferred to the new operator. “One of the non-negotiable points in the agreement reached with the private operator is that all employees’ jobs will be protected and improved.”

“All the work, especially the operational work, will be transferred to the private operators, with the port remaining as the regulator.”

He noted that the Port of Banjul has been struggling with capacity enhancement challenges recently, hence they have developed a master plan to increase the capacity of the port to better compete with neighbouring ports.

He explained that they launched an international tender and invited private operators to bid, with 10 international companies and one local company bidding, adding that three operators were eventually selected.

He further disclosed that when the report was submitted to the government in August 2023, a conditional notice of award had been issued to the Albayrak & Negmar consortium to design, build, finance, manage, operate and hand over the Banjul Port Container Terminal and the development of a deep-water port in Sanjan.

The government made the decision by citing strategic commercial fit as part of the evaluation criteria for the Banjul Port Container Terminal concession launched through the International Competitive Bidding (ICB). He added that the consortium proposed to develop a new deep-water port, which the government wanted to explore.

The port authority explained that the decision was made to mitigate the climate risks faced by Banjul, such as rising sea levels, perennial siltation at the estuary and limitations on the city’s further expansion of capacity.

Jobat also said that Banjul Port will still face the same problems in the next 20 years, mainly because Banjul is an estuary and the increasing siltation requires frequent dredging. “In the next 20 years, despite all the investments we have made, we will still face the same problems, which is why we chose to build a deep-water port in Sanyang.”

“We are surrounded by residential areas and commercial activities, which limits our ability to expand in the city.”

He said the new port would ensure bigger ships enter the country, reducing trade costs, thus enabling the port to meet the challenges it encounters in Banjul; develop its shipyard, establish inland ports in Kaur and Basai, ensure trucks coming from Mali to Banjul stop only in Basai, ensure the preservation of the road and reduce pollution and accidents.

“If we don’t increase our capacity, we will lose business. If we want to stay relevant and survive the competition, we have to improve our competitiveness by approaching private investors,” he pointed out.