National Conference Centre

Sector: Other Projects

Model: BOT Concession

Status: Planned

The government of The Gambia has announced its candidacy to host the Islamic Summit in 2019. This requires the construction of a large-capacity national conference centre. Such a centre would also be able to meet the own demand of the government for conference facilities, and put The Gambia on the market for international business conferences and meetings. The government considers a public-private partnership to realize the project. The next step is a feasibility study to further define the scope of the project and assess its economic and financial feasibility.

Analysis

The government of The Gambia has announced its candidacy to host the Islamic Summit in 2019. This requires the construction of a large-capacity national conference centre. Such a centre would generate additional benefits. It would be able to meet the own demand of the government for conference facilities so that the costs of renting private facilities can be avoided. It would also allow the Gambia to compete on the market for international business conferences and meetings as a diversification and extension of its tourism activities.

The government considers a public-private partnership to realize the project. In principle PPP is a suitable procurement method for a conference facility. The private sector is better able to mobilize the required expertise for the running of a conference centre, and to commercialize the facilities when they are not needed for government functions.

For PPP to be feasible, however, the commercial and financial viability of the project must first be clearly demonstrated.

Next step

The next step is a feasibility study to further define the scope of the project and assess its economic, commercial and financial feasibility. The feasibility study must examine, among other:

  • the potential revenues from hosting the Islamic summit;
  • the global market for large conference facilities;
  • the costs and benefits for the government to own and operate its own conference facilities (compared to renting conference facilities on the private market).