By: Sainabou Sambou
President Adama Barrow on Friday inaugurated the 13.9-kilometer Numuyel–Demba Kunda–Manneh Kunda–Basse road, declaring that development must reach every region, district and village in The Gambia.
Speaking at the ceremony in the Upper River Region, Barrow said the newly completed concrete road would cut travel times, improve safety and open economic opportunities for communities that had endured poor access for years, especially during the rainy season. Residents previously struggled to move people, farm produce, and goods; the new route now provides reliable, year-round links to schools, health facilities, and markets.
“This road is more than a physical link. It represents better access, greater economic opportunities, easier movement, and stronger connections between rural communities and the national economy,” the president said. He stressed that the project showed his government’s preference for delivering infrastructure over making promises, adding that roads form a foundation for national progress by connecting people to essential services and markets.
Barrow repeated a familiar theme of his administration: development must not be concentrated in one part of the country. “As I have often stated, development cannot and must not be concentrated in one part of the country. All Gambians must share progress,” he said. He urged residents to protect the road and its drainage systems to ensure the investment lasts, and he called on motorists to obey traffic rules. Improved connectivity, he added, should create fresh opportunities for farmers, young people and local businesses. He then formally declared the road open to traffic.
Transport, Works and Infrastructure Minister Ebrima Sillah described the inauguration as a major milestone for Upper River communities that had faced difficult conditions for decades.
The road links Numuyel through Demba Kunda and Manneh Kunda to Basse, with concrete sections extending into Basse town, and serves more than 100,000 people. It forms part of Lot One of the government’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) program, which covers roughly 60 kilometers across sections of the Upper River and Lower River regions. Most of those roads are nearing completion, with further inaugurations expected in the Upper River Region and on the North Bank of the Central River Region.
Sillah said the broader infrastructure agenda also covers electricity, water, telecommunications, education and healthcare. Better roads, he noted, will improve livelihoods, attract businesses, encourage local investment, help students reach school and enable women and other residents to access healthcare more promptly.
The minister also updated the public on the national transport master plan, which the government has received. His ministry is consulting stakeholders on a 10-year framework covering air, maritime and land transport, including proposals for rail and Bus Rapid Transit systems to improve movement within urban areas and between towns and surrounding communities.
Local leaders welcomed the project. The Alkalo of Demba Kunda, Alhagie Degumeh Ceesay Camara, and the Chief of Jimara, Julaba Drammeh, thanked the president on behalf of beneficiary communities.
They recalled that poor roads once limited travel to Basse to once a day; residents can now travel smoothly between Sotuma Sere, Basse, Demba Kunda, Numuyel and Gambissara. Farm produce can reach markets on time and inter-communal exchanges are easier, they said, strengthening social cohesion. In appreciation, they pledged their support for Barrow in the 5 December 2026 presidential election.
The inauguration is part of the government’s wider, domestically funded road program to end rural isolation and link rural communities more firmly to the national economy.
