Gambega inaugurates US$2M Wastewater treatment plant
Monday, February 21, 2011
Gambega Ltd Saturday inaugurated its US$2 million wastewater treatment plant at a ceremony held at its head office in Kanifing.
The event, which was presided over by the vice president and minister of Women’s Affairs, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, was part of activities marking The Gambia’s 46th Independence Anniversary celebrations.
Speaking at the occasion, Flexis Gomis, the Country manager of Gembega, said the day marks the end result of a promise that was backed up by real commitment. He also stressed that Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company is a group that takes all of its commitments very seriously. “We have achieved our success because from the beginning, we have made commitments to greater efficiency, to a more effective business structure and of environmental protection. Many, but not all, of you have a good idea why this new wastewater treatment plant is important. It is not simply important because its’ purpose is to ensure environmental protection but reduce waste usage through recycling and provide clean renewable sources of energy,” he said.
The Gambega Country manager further posited that the latest development is important because the wellbeing of everyone on the planet depends on the creation of a clean environment. He explained that the plant has a capacity of 110M3/ day and the treated water can help supply water for irrigation and farming. “We at Gambega Ltd as a company are very much aware of our corporate social responsibilities to give back to the community which we do our business. We’ve been active in complementing the efforts of the government over the years by supporting development areas such as the environment sector, the education sector, and the youth and sports sector amongst a host of others,” he said.
He revealed that as part of their support to the health sector, they had refurbished the Accident and Emergency Ward of the RVTH in May 2010. He further revealed that two days ago, they donated a 40-foot container of medical items worth over D5 million to the RVTH, the second container they donated within four months. Gomis expressed gratitude to the Gambian leader for what he called his immense support in creating a business-friendly and enabling environment for the private sector to operate. “We are ready to reinforce our commitment of collaborating with the government of The Gambia on how the private sector manufacturing investors like us can be incentivised more to expand our investments in The Gambia in order to create jobs and expand business opportunities for Gambians,” he added.
For his part, Philippe Ayivor, the Public Affairs and Communication director of Coca-Cola Africa Foundation for North and West Africa and Equatorial Territories, explained that as a global business that operates locally, the Coca-Cola system understands and recognises that they can only be as healthy as the communities in which they operate. “Our success is tied to the health and sustainability of our local people. As a result, we built sustainability of the communities in which we operate into all programmes and activities that we run. A key pillar of our sustainability programme is to ensure that we protect our environment not just for today but for future generations. The Coca-Cola system has chosen the protection of water resources as the focus for its environmental sustainability programmes,” he said, while revealing that 1.4 million children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unclean water.
The minister of Forestry and the Environment, Jatto Sillah, congratulated Gambega Group for their achievement and the delivery of their commitment. He said: “Today is a special day in our country’s development history and that for the first time we are witnessing the official inauguration of a wastewater treatment plant built by Gambega Ltd, the authorised bottler of the Coca-Cola Company in The Gambia. It is the modern plant of its kind in The Gambia, with the purpose of ensuring environmental protection, reduce water usage through recycling and clean renewable source of water.”
This state-of-the-art facility, according to Minister Sillah, has enormous benefits for the country’s water resources conservation, and will give a lot of benefits to the Kanifing Industrial Estate and its environs as well as serve residential and commercial needs. “It is destined to make a vital contribution to problems that must be addressed here in The Gambia and throughout the world, the need for clean water. The water that will be treated in this plant can be used for cleaning, building, and farming in order to strengthen the development of agriculture sector in our country. So we are celebrating future for the people in The Gambia,” he added.
He then thanked the management team of Gambega for what he called their foresight and dedication. “The team is indeed firmly prepared to face this modern business challenge and to put The Gambia in the forefront of modern technology with sustainable environment considerations,” he concluded. In her inauguration statement on behalf of President Jammeh, VP Njie-Saidy expressed the Gambian leader’s gratitude for this maiden development by a company that has been and continues to be an important partner in the development of this country. She described the latest move as a breakthrough in the way people can further enhance waste management and an effective water use management. She affirmed that the government of The Gambia recognises Gambega as an important partner that is always ready and willing to provide assistance.
She said: “In short, since its inception in 1995, Gambega has never taken a back seat in complementing government national development aspirations, especially in critical sectors such as education, youths and sports, art and music among a host of others. The refurbishment of the Accident and Emergency Ward of the RVTH as well as the donation of the two 40-foot containers of medicals items worth over million of dalasis are examples of Gambega’s support towards the country’s health sector,” she confirmed.
She further noted that the launch of the multi-million dalasi wastewater treatment plant is the latest demonstration of Gambega as a true and credible partner in The Gambia’s socio-economic development process. “As we all know growth in human as well as institutional and corporate populations always come along with its increased demand for public services and utilities, which water is always a critical part of. We also know too well that such growth in population settlement also comes along with obvious environmental challenges. It is indeed gratifying to note that this facility is an important blessing because not only is water going to be made available from a non-traditional source, but also we all stand to gain from the benefits of a reduced waste water challenge as well as environmental threats,” she said.
She used the opportunity to call on companies to emulate Gambega in providing and implementing such best practices that contribute to sustainable environment management. VP Njie-Saidy assured that the government under the able leadership of President Jammeh would continue to create the most conducive and supportive environment to help private businesses to thrive profitably adding that they will not relent in their search for policies that would turn all investments into profitable ventures.
She added: “I would like to urge and encourage Gambega Limited to continue to maintain close cooperation with the government and the people of this country. I also want to commend members of the project team who have been involved in the design and the construction of this facility. Today we are all proud of the hard work and achievement and to the users, it is important to bear in mind that a facility of this importance requires effective handling and protection. Collectively, therefore we are all obliged. It is also important to note that our protection of this facility would be an important contribution to environmental cleanliness, safeguarding of our wetland and the oyster creek, the protection of fishing and other recreational activities and the protection of local wildlife and their habitats, all of which are examples of the long chain of benefit stream that would be derived from this plant.”
Yankuba Colley, the mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council hailed Gambega for their foresight, describing water as a precious element in the lives of people. He stated that a considerable number of people around the world do not have access to potable water, and described their move is a ‘laudable initiative’. Gambega Ltd, which replaced Challerams, a beverage factory in 1995, is a subsidiary of the Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company, manufacturing sparkling beverages and distributing sparkling and non-sparkling products such as water, Bonaqua, energy drinks, Burn and Parrot, Juices and minute maid.
Due to their quality management system coupled with innovative and unique expertise in the field of beverages production, in December 2010, Gambega was certified with ISO 9001 Version 2008 by DQS based in Frankfurt Germany, being the first manufacturer in The Gambia to bag such international prestigious accolade.
The event, which was presided over by the vice president and minister of Women’s Affairs, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, was part of activities marking The Gambia’s 46th Independence Anniversary celebrations.
Speaking at the occasion, Flexis Gomis, the Country manager of Gembega, said the day marks the end result of a promise that was backed up by real commitment. He also stressed that Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company is a group that takes all of its commitments very seriously. “We have achieved our success because from the beginning, we have made commitments to greater efficiency, to a more effective business structure and of environmental protection. Many, but not all, of you have a good idea why this new wastewater treatment plant is important. It is not simply important because its’ purpose is to ensure environmental protection but reduce waste usage through recycling and provide clean renewable sources of energy,” he said.
The Gambega Country manager further posited that the latest development is important because the wellbeing of everyone on the planet depends on the creation of a clean environment. He explained that the plant has a capacity of 110M3/ day and the treated water can help supply water for irrigation and farming. “We at Gambega Ltd as a company are very much aware of our corporate social responsibilities to give back to the community which we do our business. We’ve been active in complementing the efforts of the government over the years by supporting development areas such as the environment sector, the education sector, and the youth and sports sector amongst a host of others,” he said.
He revealed that as part of their support to the health sector, they had refurbished the Accident and Emergency Ward of the RVTH in May 2010. He further revealed that two days ago, they donated a 40-foot container of medical items worth over D5 million to the RVTH, the second container they donated within four months. Gomis expressed gratitude to the Gambian leader for what he called his immense support in creating a business-friendly and enabling environment for the private sector to operate. “We are ready to reinforce our commitment of collaborating with the government of The Gambia on how the private sector manufacturing investors like us can be incentivised more to expand our investments in The Gambia in order to create jobs and expand business opportunities for Gambians,” he added.
For his part, Philippe Ayivor, the Public Affairs and Communication director of Coca-Cola Africa Foundation for North and West Africa and Equatorial Territories, explained that as a global business that operates locally, the Coca-Cola system understands and recognises that they can only be as healthy as the communities in which they operate. “Our success is tied to the health and sustainability of our local people. As a result, we built sustainability of the communities in which we operate into all programmes and activities that we run. A key pillar of our sustainability programme is to ensure that we protect our environment not just for today but for future generations. The Coca-Cola system has chosen the protection of water resources as the focus for its environmental sustainability programmes,” he said, while revealing that 1.4 million children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unclean water.
The minister of Forestry and the Environment, Jatto Sillah, congratulated Gambega Group for their achievement and the delivery of their commitment. He said: “Today is a special day in our country’s development history and that for the first time we are witnessing the official inauguration of a wastewater treatment plant built by Gambega Ltd, the authorised bottler of the Coca-Cola Company in The Gambia. It is the modern plant of its kind in The Gambia, with the purpose of ensuring environmental protection, reduce water usage through recycling and clean renewable source of water.”
This state-of-the-art facility, according to Minister Sillah, has enormous benefits for the country’s water resources conservation, and will give a lot of benefits to the Kanifing Industrial Estate and its environs as well as serve residential and commercial needs. “It is destined to make a vital contribution to problems that must be addressed here in The Gambia and throughout the world, the need for clean water. The water that will be treated in this plant can be used for cleaning, building, and farming in order to strengthen the development of agriculture sector in our country. So we are celebrating future for the people in The Gambia,” he added.
He then thanked the management team of Gambega for what he called their foresight and dedication. “The team is indeed firmly prepared to face this modern business challenge and to put The Gambia in the forefront of modern technology with sustainable environment considerations,” he concluded. In her inauguration statement on behalf of President Jammeh, VP Njie-Saidy expressed the Gambian leader’s gratitude for this maiden development by a company that has been and continues to be an important partner in the development of this country. She described the latest move as a breakthrough in the way people can further enhance waste management and an effective water use management. She affirmed that the government of The Gambia recognises Gambega as an important partner that is always ready and willing to provide assistance.
She said: “In short, since its inception in 1995, Gambega has never taken a back seat in complementing government national development aspirations, especially in critical sectors such as education, youths and sports, art and music among a host of others. The refurbishment of the Accident and Emergency Ward of the RVTH as well as the donation of the two 40-foot containers of medicals items worth over million of dalasis are examples of Gambega’s support towards the country’s health sector,” she confirmed.
She further noted that the launch of the multi-million dalasi wastewater treatment plant is the latest demonstration of Gambega as a true and credible partner in The Gambia’s socio-economic development process. “As we all know growth in human as well as institutional and corporate populations always come along with its increased demand for public services and utilities, which water is always a critical part of. We also know too well that such growth in population settlement also comes along with obvious environmental challenges. It is indeed gratifying to note that this facility is an important blessing because not only is water going to be made available from a non-traditional source, but also we all stand to gain from the benefits of a reduced waste water challenge as well as environmental threats,” she said.
She used the opportunity to call on companies to emulate Gambega in providing and implementing such best practices that contribute to sustainable environment management. VP Njie-Saidy assured that the government under the able leadership of President Jammeh would continue to create the most conducive and supportive environment to help private businesses to thrive profitably adding that they will not relent in their search for policies that would turn all investments into profitable ventures.
She added: “I would like to urge and encourage Gambega Limited to continue to maintain close cooperation with the government and the people of this country. I also want to commend members of the project team who have been involved in the design and the construction of this facility. Today we are all proud of the hard work and achievement and to the users, it is important to bear in mind that a facility of this importance requires effective handling and protection. Collectively, therefore we are all obliged. It is also important to note that our protection of this facility would be an important contribution to environmental cleanliness, safeguarding of our wetland and the oyster creek, the protection of fishing and other recreational activities and the protection of local wildlife and their habitats, all of which are examples of the long chain of benefit stream that would be derived from this plant.”
Yankuba Colley, the mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council hailed Gambega for their foresight, describing water as a precious element in the lives of people. He stated that a considerable number of people around the world do not have access to potable water, and described their move is a ‘laudable initiative’. Gambega Ltd, which replaced Challerams, a beverage factory in 1995, is a subsidiary of the Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company, manufacturing sparkling beverages and distributing sparkling and non-sparkling products such as water, Bonaqua, energy drinks, Burn and Parrot, Juices and minute maid.
Due to their quality management system coupled with innovative and unique expertise in the field of beverages production, in December 2010, Gambega was certified with ISO 9001 Version 2008 by DQS based in Frankfurt Germany, being the first manufacturer in The Gambia to bag such international prestigious accolade.
Author: by Sheriff Janko