By Kemo Cham
President Julius Maada Bio has said his government was determined to go ahead with the planned construction of the much talked about bridge linking Freetown to the airport town of Lungi.
Bio was quoted telling a visiting World Bank official last week that the bridge is key to the development of Sierra Leone as it would open up the country to investment opportunities.
“The Lungi Bridge, for us, is transformational because it is important to open up this country. We have identified it and because it is going to open up the country, we are still determined to continue with it,” Bio said at the meeting held with Anne Kabagambe, Executive Director at the World Bank Group for Africa Group 1.
The two officials met at State Lodge, the official residence of the President, according to a State House press statement issued after the meeting on Thursday.
“We are committed to better the lives of our people and we are creating the eco-system that invites investments,” President Bio added.
Lungi is home to Sierra Leone's only international and functioning airport. But it's linked directly to Freetown, the destination of most air travelers, by a river body.
Transportation between the airport and Freetown is mainly by ferries, which are painfully slow and unsafe. The alternative are small and faster but expensive speed boats.
A third option is via Port Loko by road. But this route is long.
The government has always said that the current situation hinders the growth of the country’s tourism sector and that it particularly frustrates investment as the experience of travelers have been thought to put off investors.
Two alternatives have been forward as possible solutions. Build a new airport in the mainland or bridge the water body that divide the two locations.
Bio’s predecessor – Ernest Bai Koroma - opted for the former, which proved controversial as the country’s international lenders, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) kicked against it as a bad idea. The issue is also partly because of the source of the money – China. Koroma and the Chinese reached the deal shortly before the 2018 general elections.
One of the first acts of Bio when he was elected in those elections was to cancel that Chinese deal.
Instead of building a new airport, the Bio administration is going for a bridge, which the Western lenders seem to support.
The State House press release cited Anne Kabagambe saying that government’s vision to construct the Lungi bridge would be one of its “greatest achievements” for the country.
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