The Government of The Gambia has signed an agreement with a German company, Global Management Systems (GMS), to take over the operations of the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) for a period of five years. Mambureh Njie, Secretary General in Office of the President, signed on behalf of The Gambian government; while Momodou Jallow, the Acting Director of NAWEC signed on behalf of his company and Muhammed Bazzi, Managing Director of the GMS, signed on behalf of his company.

 Speaking at the signing ceremony, President Yahya Jammeh said his government had invested more than US$ 37M on NAWEC without success. He stated that he had on several occasions made pronouncements that the electricity problem would be history in the country only for some people to prove him wrong by doing things which hindered the progress of electricity in this country. “That being the case, Global Management System will completely take over the management of NAWEC with regards to electricity generation and management of power stations. It is still a national company. It is not privatisation and I want that to be very clear.  By virtue of this contract, they are employees of The Gambian Government. What we want is hundred per cent supply of electricity which is affordable and reliable. Regular flow of electricity is a key determinant for potential investors; and in the absence of electricity development projects are at a halt”.

 President Jammeh also suggested to the Global Management System to connect one thousand customers to electricity and water at least every month. He thanked GMS for accepting the challenge.

 Speaking at the signing ceremony at State House, GMS managing Director Muhammed Bazzi expressed optimism that electricity problems would soon be a thing of the past. He said by the end of October three generators would arrive , one of which would be given to NAWEC as a soft loan for a period of three years. He said his office is working on expanding their network to cater for new customers.

 Under this agreement, and in a bid to provide uninterrupted electricity supply, GMS has hired a lead consultant with a view to providing reliable, affordable and efficient power supply to the consumer.  He added that his office is working on expanding their network to cater for new customers and by the end of the year they would replace all post pay metres with a prepaid metre system commonly known as ‘cash power'.

 The agreement was signed on Friday 29^th September, 2006.