By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Freetown City Council (FCC) and the construction firm Beton Villa, better known as Gento Group, have accused each other of responsibility for the persistent overflowing of sewage on the King Jimmy Bridge along Lightfoot Boston Street.
The wastewater has been oozing out from a point in the middle of the bridge for a long time, rendering the area smelly and uncomfortable for those who do business there. The unsightly scene is made worse by moving vehicles which splash the liquid all over the vicinity.
The King Jimmy Bridge is located in the center of the city, neighboring Connaught Hospital and the iconic Big Market. It is surrounded by businesses on both sides, as well as offices, including the National Civil Registration Authority, the newly constructed City Hall, the Western Area branch of NASSIT, Maritime Administration, and the offices of the Freetown City Council itself.
The bridge infamously collapsed in 2013, over a century since it was constructed. At least six people lost their lives in the disaster, prompting condemnation of the Ernest Bai Koroma administration for neglect.
The bridge was reconstructed by the Gento Group.
The FCC says the construction company failed to take the necessary consideration for the sewage system when it undertook the project.
Sulaiman Zainu Parker, Environment and Social Officer at FCC, told Politico that Gento never consulted them for their guidance on the sewer connection system before doing the job.
“It was constructed in default of the central sewage system. And so when we noticed this, we called their attention and we had to express the matter at State House,” Mr Parker explained in a telephone interview.
The bridge was reconstructed by the Koroma administration. Parker recalled that back then they were dealing with the Strategic Communication Unit headed by Professor Strasser King.
“He (Prof. King) summoned us to a meeting at State House and Gento Group agreed as at that time to correct the mistake. We made series of site visitations with their engineers, they identified the fault and they noticed that they made a mistake on their side because they failed to consult us to give them the directions as to where the pipes should have been passed. And so all this while, we have been chasing them to fix it up and it has been very challenging,” Parker said.
Parker added that FCC has received a lot of complaints from the National Civil Registration Authority and petty traders who do business in the area over the effect of the overflowing sewage.
The construction company rejected the claims by the Council. Its Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Gento Kamara, denied that the problem was with their wok, blaming it instead on the sewage system itself.
He also refuted Parker’s claim that they didn’t consulting the FCC during the reconstruction work.
“They knew about it. They were part of it. There are letters that SLRA sent them and copied us. You cannot do sewage without contacting Freetown City Council. All we did was the pipe network,” Kamara said in a telephone interview when contacted by Politico.
He added: “We have nothing to do with the sewage. There was a pipe network that is underneath the embankment and we replaced it with bigger pipes. So it’s their own problem, they are not managing it well.”
According to the Gento CEO, when they were working on the bridge they asked the council for a map or a plan for the sewage system. He said council officials told them that they didn’t have one.
“I will tell you categorically clear that nobody in the council knows about the sewage system in the Central Business District of Freetown,” the contractor said.
The Sierra Leone Roads Authority confirmed that they did write a letter to the FCC over the issue. A copy of the letter, dated 26th September, 2018, called the attention of the council to the state of the sewage on the bridge, noting that the Authority had observed that the concrete manhole cover at the center of the bridge was missing and that the entire area was being polluted which, according to them, posed a “very serious” health concern considering that the facility is located close to Connaught.
“We ask that the Freetown City Council and MASSADA, being the custodian of these facilities, team up with us and the contractor (Beton Villa SL Ltd) to come up with a design and cost estimate for the proposed work,” the letter reads in part.
Amidst the blame game, those who spend time within the area live in uncertainty.
Mariatu Conteh trades in assorted vegetables and fruits at an area located between the bridge and Connaught Hospital. She expressed frustration over the situation she said could only be attributed to negligence of duty by the authorities.
“This thing has been here for over a year now and it has been very sickening,” ms Conteh lamented. She sometimes vehicles splash the toilet water on them.
“But that is what they want for us because this is their usual route. Even the mayor [Yvonne Aki-Sawyer], she passes here, yet nothing has been done to address this issue, not even with consideration for the hospital,” the woman grived.
Fellow trader, Gibril Kalokoh, sits on the other side of the bridge by the Big Market. Kalokoh, who trades in used cloths, shares Mariatu’s frustration. He said if he had an alternative location to trade, he would have long left the place.
“It is not healthy to be here. That is why I don’t vote, because our leaders are very wicked. When they assume power, they forget about the plight of the people completely. Look at this place, very close to City Council and other offices, yet no one cares,” he said.
Copyright (c) 2020 Politico Online
