The Deputy Director General for the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, has said that the Kuwait fund contributed and co-financed 35% of the project implementation for the construction of the University of The Gambia at Faraba Banta Campus.
Eman Alabdulrazzaq spoke recently at an invitation by the Gambia government to participate in the inauguration of the Lot 1 of the fixed packed of the University of The Gambia development project at the Faraba Banta Campus, held over the weekend.
Speaking on behalf of the Kuwait Fund, Waleed Al-Bahar, acting Director General, said the importance of the UTG project was clearly evident by supporting the social and economic development in The Gambia, by improving the higher education sector to meet the increasing demand of the sector.
"The Project has been divided into two packages, fixed and optional due to financing constraints, in which the fixed package was divided into two lots, Lot 1, and Lot 2."
Deputy Director General Eman revealed that the Kuwait Fund participated in financing the construction of Lot 1 with a concessional Loan of 4.0 Million Kuwait Dinars, which includes major structures of the UTG Campus project.
The project, she added, includes the Art and Sciences, Education, Business Administration, and Information Technology and Communication Colleges, in addition to the external works of roadway system, the Parking and utilities, at a total cost of about 37.3 Million US Dollars.
Madam Eman recalled that since 1977 to date, the Kuwait Fund has extended 13 soft loans to The Gambia, with a total amount of about 152 million US Dollars to participate in the financing of Development Projects in various sectors, such as Agriculture, Energy, Transport, Education and Health.
"The Fund has extended 7 technical assistances with a total amount of 4.5 Million US Dollars and a Grant allocated by the Government of the State of Kuwait for an amount of about 3 Million US Dollars within the framework of the Kuwait Goodwill Fund for Promotion of Food Security in Islamic Countries." she revealed.
She further acknowledged that the government of The Gambia has demonstrated a high degree of efficiency in the planning and implementation of development projects financed by the Kuwait Fund.
Meanwhile, other co-financiers from the Arab coordination group included the Islamic Development Bank, OPEC Fund, and Saudi Fund for Development and BADEA.
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