By: Fatou Dahaba
Petroleum and Energy Minister Nani Juwara told lawmakers on Monday that delays, compensation shortfalls and withholding-tax disputes flagged in audits of major electricity projects are being addressed, while arguing that many problems arose from project design, donor financing rules and constraints beyond managers’ control.
Juwara was answering the Public Enterprises Committee on the consolidated report covering NAWEC’s Gambia Electricity Restoration and Modernization Project (GERMP), the Gambia Electricity Access Project (GEAP) and the Regional Electricity Access Project (ECOREAP). Deputies pressed him on land compensation, contractor tax obligations, implementation slippages and contractor capacity.
On the Jambur component of GERMP, the minister said delays in land acquisition and compensation stemmed largely from limits in the Resettlement Action Plan study carried out during the Covid-19 period. Those constraints, he said, prevented full identification and accurate mapping of all project-affected people and the associated compensation risks. Payment-control weaknesses identified in the audit had been resolved, he added, with new measures to stop a recurrence.
On withholding tax, Juwara said the original understanding was that project funds were tax-exempt, which is why deductions were not made from some contract payments. After a 2024 Ministry of Finance directive requiring withholding tax, project managers notified contractors, consultants and suppliers. He maintained the directive should apply only to new contracts, not existing agreements negotiated without such a clause.
Asked whether contractors that enjoyed the exemption had paid any tax in the relevant financial year, he said they had not, because the financing agreements explicitly exempted the project funds from taxation.
Turning to GEAP, Juwara said works stood at 91.87 percent complete as of 15 June 2024, with continuous engagement with contractors.
Procurement rules were being progressively harmonized, and national systems could be used under some financing arrangements. Concerns over unsupported payments for office consumables were addressed with safeguards, while top-up incentives received formal approval from the financing bank. The project was fully completed and commissioned in 2025. Contractor-capacity worries were tackled by requiring the firm to field more teams to accelerate work.
On ECOREAP, the minister acknowledged significant delays and capacity constraints. The contractor had been told to submit revised implementation and mitigation plans and was under close monitoring. Contract packaging, he said, was handled at the regional level by the ECOWAS coordinating unit, not the national project office. All affected communities were consulted during the environmental and social assessment, though only land directly affected by the transmission line qualified for compensation.
Lawmakers also asked about delays under another agreement and possible liquidated damages. Juwara said he could not immediately confirm whether penalties had been imposed, but the contract remained in force.
