By Mabinty M. Kamara
President Julius Maada Bio on Thursday officially commissioned a major expansion project at the Lungi International Airport.
The project entails the construction of a new terminal, designed to increase passenger accommodation, among others.
The development is a fulfilment of the Bio administration’s promise to revamp the country’s only international airport, which has been at the center of discussion recently over its role in the promotion of the tourism sector.
The expansion scheme is an alternative approach to the idea of constructing a new airport.
Lungi Airport, officially called Freetown International Airport, is located in the town of Lungi in the northern Port Loko District. It connects to Freetown by sea, as well as by road via Port Loko town, which lengthens the journey.
But the sea route has also been a major source of discomfort, largely due to difficulties associated with ferry ride.
In recent years private investors have provided alternative means of sea transport with small and luxurious boats, but they are expensive.
All these have been blamed for negatively impacting tourism, hence the idea of constructing a new airport.
The Bio administration, which kicked against the idea of constructing a new airport, argues in favour of upgrading the current one. It said it plans to construct a bridge linking Lungi to Freetown to remove the problems associated with traveling to and from the airport.
President Bio said on Thursday that his government saw no relevance in the establishment of a new airport when there is one that can easily be transformed with a transport link to the capital Freetown.
The airport terminal bridge project is valued at US$ 270million. The contractual agreement was also signed at the same ceremony.
The contractor was named as the Summa Group of Companies.
The project, according to officials, will transform the Lungi International Airport to international standards.
President Bio said the project will not only increase revenue generation for the country, but will also create job opportunities for young Sierra Leoneans. He said he was passionate about Lungi because it was part of his upbringing.
According to President Bio, the last time the airport had proper makeup was in 1967, noting that under the New Direction it would experience another transformation.
“When I said I was going to transform Lungi International Airport into a truly international airport, many of you thought it was a dream, but today that dream has turned into a reality,” Bio said.
He then explained why his government canceled the Mamamah airport plan.
“If the airport had gone to Mamamah, it would have been in the same Port Loko District, but what would have become of Lungi without this airport? Some of us were not born here, but we were raised here, so we know what the airport means for Kafubulum and for Port Loko,” he said.
Bio went on to question the rationale behind taking over US$300million to another part of Port Loko, with the option of transforming an existing infrastructure in the same district.
“We didn’t see sense in that and we didn’t want to take loan and put it on your head, because you will have to pay for it. That is why we decided to work with Summa, who opted to bring their money, US270million, to build the terminal, operate it and later give us our airport,” he said.
Patricia Laverley, Deputy Minister of Finance 1, described the project as one with a complete balance sheet, explaining that it has no sovereign guarantee, meaning it will be funded by itself.
“What does that mean for the media and the people? Government is not investing a cent in it. We just reviewed the agreement; we looked at the deal structure at the Ministry of Finance, of course cabinet approved it, and the Attorney General, they carefully assessed the legal dimension and the benefit to the country. So it’s at no cost to the government,” she said.
The Vice President of Summa Group, Satih Bora, said his company has a wealth of experience in the construction of airports, noting that their work spans from Latin America to Asia and Africa.
“We love this project very much because we believe in the great potentials of Sierra Leone and the airport. That’s why even though the COVID-19 has posed a lot of challenges to the industry; we haven’t hesitated to take this investment of 270 million dollars. We will complete this prestigious project in 24 months and it will be the best airport in the region,” he said.
According to officials, upon completion, the airport will handle about one million people per year from the current two to three hundred thousand passengers it host per annum.
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