Suntou, I know you;re talking about serious issues but I find you hilariously funny. You have a way of narrating that just makes you smile, even in agony and pain. No wonder you're surviving your ordeal in Gambia. You inspire me. I hope I can survive it as well as you are doing. I do want to share with you that there is nothing wrong with the road designs the various contractors present to Yahya. In fact, on paper, (Houston, Texas, was a paper city from its beginnings), they may have more bells and whistles than I would even consider adding. But they even make their proposals in colour now. I was informed Yahya prefers colour in proposals. The problem is lifting the design from the Milars and placing them on the road. For example: If it will actually cost 1 million Dalasis to build a road out of a certain batch of bitumen that will last for 20 years, the contractor will present that batch characteristics on paper in his/her proposal. And because the contractor knows he/she is speaking Azerbaijani to the people at works or Yahya, and because the funds for the project are from OPEC, The Netherlands, or EU, the contractor has no remorse in paying the listener D200,000.00 to get the contract and then using a more inferior batch of bitumen that will cost D300,000.00 And when the road starts separating at the seams of the grades and within the grade, the first thing they blame it on is the heat and the rains. Yahya will not require them to repair the damage at no cost. In fact, in Gambia, there is not the technical expertise or the patriotism to inspect the work of these contractors and make payment contingent on passing an Acceptance Inspection. I think the EU has learned a lot from these practices that is why they concentrate more on feeder roads that actually serve a community purpose and whose quality they can ascertain. They cost less of course but if we can have 10 good feeder roads in the rural areas for any half-baked road, I say go to it. Maybe that will spur an Urban-Rural Migration because I hear Gambians like shiny things. Take care Bro and I wish you happy sojourn. I hear you're going back to UK next month. Take care. Masoud. MQDT. Haroun. Al Khairawan. Darbo. Mud and grass reinforced with bamboo re-bars could be our best hope for roads. Hehehehehehee! You think you've seen dust. You ain't seen nothing yet. In a message dated 11/14/2007 7:54:20 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: you are right jambarr.ebou town is equally bad ,i couldn't even find the old foroyaa office .the road round that end is just nowhere.but from westfield to bambo (senegambia garage) to bakoteh tipa garage .from tipa garage to sukuta sanchaba and sukuta sabige .pass through bakoteh is all hell holes.my cough is getting worse .the dust,heat and the cars swinging at pedestrian is all a bad cocktail.now i travel by foot up to westfield and then i board the banjul vans.come see the bluffs of the early morning van drivers.they choose where to pick up passengers. people keep on saying BANJUL APARANTEH ,BANJUL ,BANJUL .may be after ten banjuls one van will stop .but then in midday ,the van drivers now start calling banjul banjul.even in some parts of banjul the roads are bad. on the talinding high ways ,the annoying traffic lights.the bad drivers.drivers turning every where.vans stopping without warning .men ,the gambia needs mental food .i show deyda halake at the air port bound for uk last week. the budung road is also deteriorating fast .the ebrima ceesay inaugurated road not the babun fatty area .the babun fatty arena area is also bad.we need masoud and his talent to design sustainable roads.our people are suffering whilst you out there are enjoying .from yero,bambalaye,yanks.men we need you folks.the internet cost D15 per hour .and you have to look over your shoulder incase any FABURAMA is looking .bye. JAMBARR <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Suntu Many people are concerned about Ibo town but the westfield - sukuta road is the worst in the Gambia, I doubt very much if president Jammeh have travelled that road and see how it is. A distance that used to take 15-20 minutes is now taking almost an hour to drive. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい