Infrastructure

There continues to be sustained improvement in basic infrastructure, including the notably expansion of the Road Network, Telecommunication System, Seaport and Airport and the Electricity System.

Sea Transport

The Port of Banjul is the main seaport that serves The Gambia's seaborne trade and is one of the World's busiest Shipping lanes. It is situated at latitude 13 degrees 27' North and Longitude 16 degrees 34' West and located on the estuary of the River Gambia, 26 nautical miles away from the Atlantic Ocean. The river can be navigated up to 300 miles inland by sea-going vessels and further still by commercial barges, providing a cost-effective and reliable alternative to road transport. The Port has a deep sheltered anchorage with no record of piracy and is internationally recognised as one of the safest and most efficient ports in West Africa. It offers a prompt, reliable and value-for-money service. The port’s well developed facilities can handle any type of cargo, while its infrastructure, competitive tariffs, use of information technology and dedicated professional workforce ensure that the customer is always provided with the highest quality of service.

Air Transport

The Banjul International Airport is regulated by the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority which is a member of ICAO and follows their regulations and guidelines. The airport can handle up to one million passengers a year and has open skies agreements with the United States and EU Countries and is certified as a last point of departure to the U.S. by FAA. There are direct flights from Banjul to London and Brussels and other major world destinations such as the US, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South Africa can be reached via London and Brussels or via Dakar which is 20-25 minutes by air from Banjul. The airport has undertaken a significant transformation despite being faced with a competitive air transport market and considerable growth in air traffic demand. The Authority continues to invest heavily on human capital, equipment, airport infrastructure and safety as stipulated in the ICAO Convention and Technical Annexes.

Energy

The Government of The Gambia has put in place a national energy policy, a national energy strategy as well as national renewable energy law and feed-in tariff that is geared towards opening the renewable energy sector for enhanced private sector investment. The National Water and Electricity Company Limited (NAWEC) a Government incorporated limited liability company responsible for the production, transmission and distribution of water, electricity and sewerage services in The Gambia. The electricity supply system in The Gambia comprises of an integrated Transmission and Distribution System in the Greater Banjul Area, and six standalone grids in the rural areas. NAWEC is committed to expanding its coverage and aims at increasing the installed capacity to at least 180 Megawatts by 2020.

Currently, there is an Independent Power Producer (IPP) which has an installed capacity of 25 megawatts and is significantly contributing to NAWEC’s generation capacity. Most recently, there has been a granting of another licence to the village of Batukunku to generate wind energy. This project marks a milestone in the history of this country and demonstrates that alternative sources of energy can be a reality. The new wind turbine has a capacity of 150KW which though small will help to boaster NAWEC’s generation.

Telecommunications

A digital telephone system has been available in The Gambia since 1986, and the State owned Gambia Telecommunications Company (GAMTEL) maintains a satellite earth station at Abuko, not far from the airport with direct links to Europe and the US and links to other countries via the UK and France. Land links to Europe are also available through Senegal.

ASDL and IP-VPN are available to corporate customers

This sector has witnessed the establishment of four GSM mobile operators, one fixed network operator and more then six ISP licenses. In August 2008, a 3G license was issued as the fourth entrant into the mobile market. 

The telephone penetration level (tele-density) measured as the percentage of the population owning a fixed and or mobile service has been very impressive the years, registering 21.59%, 54.47% and 76% in, 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. This impressive performance in the penetrations level is as a result of the strong performance registered in the mobile subscriber base. The mobile penetration level has increased from 51.4 in 2007 to 72.9 in 2008, whilst the fixed line penetration level been steadily dropping from 2006.

Mobile charges 

Please visit The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority: www.pura.gm