Major reforms at Bakau fishing centre #gambia

The Bakau Fishing Center has been undergoing major
improvements thanks to a new selected committee,
instituted by the current overseer of the facility, Alkalo Dou
Bojang.
Since his appointment late last year by the Kanifing
Municipal Council (KMC), the alkalo and his committee
have left no stone unturned to make this site more
productive and beneficial to the coastal dwellers. Speaking
to the Daily Observer in a recent interview, the Bakau alkalo
said that his first job was to institute a vibrant committee
that would help steer the affairs of the centre given that the
site was losing its footing at the time of their take over.
"After selecting a new committee, we wasted no time to
start the work and we were able to generate an amount of
D150, 000 as revenue in the first three months of our
management. We then started to embark on some
renovation works that were needed including expansion of
the electricity," he disclosed.
Bojang explained that the electricity expansion was meant
to enable women smoke their fish at the centre more
effectively so that they too can also benefit from the project.
He also informed that the new committee had also
embarked on an environmental project at the site with a
view to averting the frequent erosion that sometimes affects
activities at the centre.
"We also found out that some sheds were not in good
shape, and so, we decided to invest D30, 000 to buy new
corrugated iron sheets to renovate some of them for the use
by the target beneficiaries," he further disclosed. He added
that since the center is a community project, the new
committee also deemed it prudent to plough back some
little revenue to support some community initiatives, citing
their donation of D10, 000 to the Bakau Central Mosque to
support its annual Qur'anic recitation as an example.
New plans
On the other hand, Bojang also outlined his new plans for
the community in his capacity as the alkalo. Chief among
them, he said, include the proposed expansion project of the
main Bakau market. He revealed that he had held talks with
the director of The Gambia Technical Training Institute
(GTTI) annex, the department responsible for urban and
town planning to conduct a survey on the Bakau market.
The aim, he explained, is to devise an expansion
mechanism that could be cost-effective for restructuring the
market in a way that would be highly accommodative and
responsive to the needs of the people of Bakau.
"Since some of those structures at the market have been
existing since colonial days, the GTTI after conducting its
assessment task concluded that the entire restructuring
would cost over D600, 000. But in order to render such a
community service, the new committee would need support
from donors and philanthropists to kick-start the project,"
he concluded.