King Colley, Commissioner of Mobile Traffic Unit
By Buba Gagigo
King Colley, Commissioner of the Mobile Traffic Unit, has warned that the Jabang Junction will become a traffic nightmare without a flyover. He urged the government to include a flyover in the contractor’s design, arguing that it would be more useful than the flyover at the Old Yundum Costal Road Junction.
“The Jabang Junction (Sukuta Traffic Light) needs to have a flyover, and if it is not in the design, they should include it there. Last week, the vice president of the Republic of The Gambia and two ministers (the Minister of Works, Transport, and Infrastructure and the Minister of Interior) met there, and this was their observation. One day, the minister of the Interior himself, together with I, were there trying to control the traffic. A bridge (flyover) at Jabang Junction is going to be far more important than the one even at Old Yundum, Costal Road,” he said.
He stated that the construction of a flyover at the Jabang Junction would alleviate traffic congestion on the Banjul-Serekunda-Brikama highway.
“Most of the workers in Banjul could use sting corner through Sukuta, Jabang and to Jambanjally and to Brikama. There is always a problem, and whenever that road is completed and that roundabout is there, it will be so laborious on the side of the police. No matter the handful of police officers you post there, the traffic will jam,” he warned.
The commissioner acknowledged that his unit cannot do the job alone, which is why they are being assisted by the PIU. He also expressed frustration with senior government officials, whom he believes have made their work more difficult.
“Our strength in mobile is about 500 plus countywide. We are the lead agency for mobile, and PIU comes to help make the traffic easy. In their absence, there is no way we can do it alone. In fact, we find it more difficult with the government’s senior officers, particularly security officers, disobeying us. We end up charging people, and we end up giving them mandatory fines. There is a case already in hand. I am not going to mention it. Whether the government should make an extra payment to the contractor, but there is a need for a flyover at that junction,” he concluded.