Lamin Bah, US based Gambian, president of Moringa Biodiesel Project worth 325 million dollars has asked the finance minister (Mambureh Njie) to tell Gambians why the Moringa is still not approved.
He said the project has the capacity to employ 90,000 youth in the country and also will build twenty thousand houses (20,000) for its employees.
Mr Bah said he introduced the project to President Adama Barrow. According to him, President Barrow accepted the idea and welcomed the project.
“The project will be in the community of Kiang Karantaba in the Lower River Region (LRR). Because we want to make sure our employees stay in the center without traveling from Kombo to Kiang,” Lamin Bah said.
He said In 2018, he received an invitation from the ministry of finance for them to come and implement the project. “I want to ask the finance minister what is delaying the project from approval? Because I find it very unfair for me to be invited here and I have flown back with my family from the US and still we are waiting for the project to go live,” he said.
Mr Bah said the investors are ready to invest 325 million dollars. In 90 days if everything goes well, they will have the funding and then start employing Gambians.
Bah feels the need for Gambians to know what is hindering his project from approval by the finance minister. He underscored the importance for the development of the country.
“We will pay a minimum salary of ten thousand dalasi (D10,000) to our employees,” Lamin Bah said. “This will also reduce the rate of irregular migration in the country.”
Mr Bah told journalists that the government has given them access but few things that are hindering the project from going ahead.“We have followed due processes and we met relevant authorities,” he said. He added that the finance minister was advised by the PPP to go ahead with the project.
“Today, we are not condemning but we’re asking questions about what is taking the project too long for approval?”
Bah explained the plans of the project and its development benefits for the country. He said the Moringa Biodiesel is a very important project and Gambia should not let it go.
“The revenue return each year for the project is 203 million dollars and even if you took loans in two years the project will pay it off. I don’t see any reason why the project should be left behind.”
“We have acquired the land. All we need now is security for the investment. Every investor that comes to a country needs security. We need the government to give us security bank guarantees of 40% of the total investment.
However, he said the project is structured as a loan for security reasons because the investors don’t want an influential person who is not part of the project to destroy it. He warns that if the government allows that to happen then they will pay back the 40%.
Continental Africa LLC a US registered based company in Delaware is a holding company for separate sub-corporations created in each of the countries where operations are envisioned in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Continental is a vertically integrated Afro-industrial group of companies, focused on the sustainable development of “green” resources to address the problems of food security, global poverty, energy scarcity and global warming. Continental’s solutions are environmentally beneficial, socially responsible and economically sustainable.
The project highlights the following:
The cultivation of 30,000 hectares of land, created 90,000 permanent jobs and 325 million dollars investment. It will also construct a Biodiesel plant that will generate clean fuel without pollution or destroying the mutual environment and landscape of The Gambia.
According to Bah, they will build modern infrastructure in the community like Schools, Hospital, Shopping Center, Supply Electricity, Dig Boreholes among other development plans.
Kairaba News Network has made efforts to get the side of the finance minister but at the time he was not available on phone. However, we will bring you his side of the story once we get him.
By Dawda Baldeh
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