By: Kebba Ansu Manneh
Tensions are rising among environmentalists and the residents of Sukuta over the alleged deforestation of a section of land in the Salagi Forest Park after Gambia Angola, China Holding Global Company (GACH) confirmed that the Ministry of Environment has granted a temporary permit for the storage of Basalt intended for distribution to the Gambian market.
GACH Global’s response comes at a time when both environmentalists and the residents of Sukuta are seeking answers regarding the allocation of a portion of Salagi Forest. They have expressed their complete disapproval and condemnation of the ongoing encroachment into this sacred forest park.
Sukuta Village Development Committee (VDC), in thier reaction in a statement, called on the Government to immediately stop all clearing activities in Salagi Forest and urged the Government to engage with the Sukuta community and relevant stakeholders in open dialogue concerning the area’s future. The VDC prioritized sustainable development practices that protect Gambia’s natural resources for future generations.
However, in a statement issued by GACH Global and obtained by TAT, the Company dismisses claims that it is illegally occupying the land and destroying the forest, observing that such claims are not only ‘mischievous but unfounded.’
The Company also revealed that the Ministry of Environment granted GACH Global temporal permission to use the said land as a storage site for imported Basalt from Cape Verde, noting that such a decision is anchored on the shortage of Basalt coming from Senegal and makes Basalt more accessible and affordable to the Gambian people.
“In order to make basalt accessible to all, The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change gave GACH a temporal permit to store this basalt on the former Lateriten Quarry utilized for the OIC Road Construction. This discontinued quarry site is located on the fringes of the Salgie Forest and the permit comes with a number of restrictions as to usage to minimize any damage to the surrounding forests and to the environment in general,” GACH Global said in a statement obtained by TAT.
It added: “Gach Global will also carry out some rehabilitation and backfilling works on the site to make it fit for use. GACH Global has completed all necessary procedures and fulfilled the conditions attached to this temporal permit.”
The Company also challenged the public visit and confirmed the current activity undertaken in an environmentally safe manner on the discontinued quarry site, noting that with this development, GACH Global will soon be able to provide a secure supply of Basalt to support ongoing national and private infrastructure projects in the Country and solve the decades-old problem of dependence on Basalt from Senegal.
Reacting to the news in an Interview with the Alkamba Times, Matarr Cham, Auditor, Sukuta VDC, said: “The place they (GACH Global) are talking about is not an old Quarry; it is, in fact, part of the Salagi Forest Park that they are destroying. There is massive work of clearing going on there right now. They have fallen some trees, and if it was an old Quarry, they wouldn’t have fallen trees, so if they are saying it is an old Quarry, that is false,”
He added: “To our dismay, no consultation took place between the Ministry of Environment and the Stakeholders in Sukuta, including the entire administration of the village, the Alkalo or the VDC. When the first attempt was made to de-reserve part of the forest, we had a serious discussion with the Ministry as stakeholders so that in the future, before any major development, there will be consultations, but in this, there was none.”
He firmly voices the Sukuta VDC’s opposition to the temporal permit granted to GACH Global for a basalt storage site. He emphasizes that Salagi Forest Park is a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife and houses more than ten boreholes. “Therefore, the Government must stop any plans to allocate this area to any company, whether Gambian-owned or foreign.”
