Banjul — The second Plymouth - Dakar - Banjul motor rally is slotted for December 19th with 136 vehicles leaning the UK in three groups with the first group arriving in the Gambia around January 8th, 2004 According to a press release from the Association of Small Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) and the Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC).

According to the press release, which was circulated to Journalists at a press conference on the event at the Safari garden on Wednesday, building on the success of last year, the event has tripled in size. It also stated that any vehicle that do not already have an organisation identified will be entered into an action along with equipment that the teams do not want to take back to UK. Forty percent of the proceeds of the auction will be shared equally between ASSET and GNOC and the remaining sixty percent shared between Gambian based and registered organisations that are working with children, youth development associations and small scale enterprises in tourism.

The release adds that the Association of small scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) and The Gambia National Olympic Committee have joined forces to facilitate the logistics of the arrival and the distribution of funds. A grant allocation committee, chaired by Dr. Henry Carrol, has been established. This committee will review applications against a set of agreed criteria and will disburse the funds to successful organisations.

A second, logistics committee has been formed to oversee the safe entry and passage of the vehicles within the Gambia and to work with their peers in other countries to facilitate the passage of vehicles through Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal.