After formally taking over operations under a concession agreement, Turkish company Albayrak and Gambia Ports Authority, operating as Alport, has begun modernisation of the Banjul ports.
Albayrak is required to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to expand and modernise the Banjul port and build a new one in Sanyang.
The project is expected to significantly reduce port call turnaround time, improve efficiency and cargo volume.
On Saturday, officials of the company led a section of the Gambian media and other stakeholders on a tour of the work site followed by a press conference.
Flanked by senior members of his engineering staff, new port manager Mr Cem Öztürk explained that after winning an international competitive bid in 2023, his team has started improving the facility by decongesting and creating space through flattening the ground around the Muslim High School and the Half- Die area.
“We have already started our investment and probably in six month’s time we would bring our IT infrastructure, and that is the game changer, because a new operating system, with better equipment for offloading and loading cargo will be brought, and these materials are due in two months . So in six month’s time, everything would change,’’ he said.
Nonetheless, he said the port has already recorded “a remarkable improvement in operations because the volume of vessels have increased from 8 to 11 since Alport started. ‘’So you can imagine the number when everything is in full gear,’’ Mr Öztürk said.
He said Alport has already started smooth working relation with The Gambia Revenue Authority and the Gambia Maritime Agency, among others.
On misconceptions about the concession, he said the project is called Alport, an acronym for Albayrak and the GPA and that even though his company has 80 percent shareholding, the dividend windfalls in terms of inefficiency, increased revenue, and improved welfare of workers will be good for the country.
“Monies from the investment will be used to build the Sanyang deep sea port and all GPA staff transferred to Alport from GPA will move will all their rights: salaries, pensions, etc. No one is laid off and in fact if operations get into full swing there could be 2,000 workers as opposed to the 1,000 we started with now,” he said.
He gave examples of one of “Albayrak’s most successful projects”, the Port of Conakry, where the company started with “a small number of employees” which “swelled significantly” as the project progressed.
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