Gambia Gov’t in Talks with an Indian Company for Building a 200-Bed Hospital

The government of the Gambia has entered into advanced talks with Minaean SP Construction Corp. an Indian company for the design, finance, and construction of a 200-bed tertiary hospital with teaching facilities in Banjul. This week, the Indian company has announced that it has submitted an Expression of Interest to construct the teaching hospital “as requested by The Gambia government.”

From our sources, the government of The Gambia officially wrote to the Minaean SP Construction Corp. company business development team to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) following corridor discussions with officials of the company.

To get more contracts in Africa and Latin America, Minaean SP Construction Corp. has established some form of business relationship with the Government of Canada’s trade offices. It is not sure if the link with the government of The Gambia for the construction of the hospital passed through the same route.

The Chronicle made several attempts to clarify details about this 200-bed tertiary hospital project that seemed to be entrusted to the Indian company. Unfortunately, officials of the ministry were busy attending President Adama Barrow’s second shot of the Covid-19 vaccine. All our follow-up calls found the officials busy attending meetings or out of office.

We, however, learned that while submitting its EOI, the Indian Company requested that the Ministry of Health of the Gambia provide details about the Teaching Hospital construction project’s finalized specifications. The government of The Gambia is yet to respond to the Indian company’s demand.

Upon receipt of the Gambia government details, Minaean SP Construction Corp. will prepare a preliminary proposal and negotiate with the Ministry of Health to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. The Chronicle has learned that based on the current indication and estimation, the budgeted construction cost of the Teaching Hospital is expected to be US$ 80 million.