By Politico staff writer
A senior official of the investment company Africa Gulf Corporation has told the media in Bo that the company decided to start site-clearing the proposed new airport after experiencing “delays, time wasting and too much bureaucracy with people not wanting to talk to us on the project but we are ready to meet the authorities at any time”.
The Corporation’s Head of Communications, Jobson Saffa Momoh said they would “discuss and negotiate as soon as we get responses from those concerned”.
The news conference came a few days after the Minister of Transport and Aviation was quoted in a local newspaper as saying that he had no idea about the new airport project in Bo.
Momoh said the site-clearing alone was costing his company a lot of money because “we are using four caterpillars with one costing 8,000 US dollars a day and the work has been going on for one month so far”. He said he had invited the media to see that the “airport project which will have an industrial zone and a hotel is a reality. It’s not a fake as some people are peddling lies against Africa Gulf”.
The Head of Communications said that two years ago his company “did a proposal which could improve the aviation sector in Bo, Kenema, Kono and Hastings but we cannot do it all at the same time because it’s a five year project valued at over seven billion US dollars”.
Politico has seen documents widely shared on social media confirming that on the 9 August 2019 Africa Gulf Corporation wrote directly to transport and aviation minister, Kabineh Kallon proposing the project referred to by Jobson Momoh.
In June 2019, Permanent Secretary Brima T.S. Kebbie wrote “on behalf of the Hon. Minister” to invite Africa Gulf Foundation to Sierra Leone “with a view to working out details of the proposed timetable for the implementation of the project”. In that same letter Kebbie noted “with great pleasure the mode of interventions and your personal determination to help His Excellency the President in his avowed commitment to transform the once battered economy. As a ministry we view the offer as laudable and a welcome one”.
In another letter dated 26 August 2019, the ministry of transport referred to the proposal for rehabilitating the Hastings Airport just outside Freetown with Gulf Africa, saying: “your proposal if fully implemented will go a long way to help our President’s efforts to revitalize the socio-economic prospect and standards of the country”.
The Permanent Secretary noted that his ministry remained “committed to providing the enabling environment for investment into both our sector and the country at large”. According to the company, this clearly demonstrates that the ministry is fully aware of the airport project.
For its part, the Civil Aviation Authority which denied knowledge of the project in the same article subsequently issued a statement saying “our doors are wide-open to all who seek to invest in the industry”, and urged the company working on the proposed Bo airport “to desist forthwith and follow due processes”.
The Civil Aviation Authority (SLCAA) says an aerodrome shall not be established for commercial use “unless an Aerodrome Certificate for that Aerodrome has been issued by the SLCAA” and that it would “grant the authorization only if the Aerodrome facilities, equipment and Aerodrome Manual are in compliance with the Civil Aviation Act, 2019 and the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs)”.
Henry Maala, Town Chief of Bandajuma, one of the host communities said they welcomed the Airport project for which “we have already provided 750 acres of land”. The chief said that they were waiting to sign an agreement for the land and promised “to give our fullest support to the airport project”. His counterpart, Chief Mohamed Sellu, the own Chief of Nyadehun, Nyallah section said: “we accept development – the airport is a huge development which has several opportunities”.
Copyright © Politico Online 25/10/21
