By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, has said the government will soon embark on major construction works with the aim of creating jobs for up to 5000 people across the country. Saffa made the announcement as part of his supplementary budget speech to Parliament on Friday.
He said the initiative is part of ways of getting back the economy on track in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some 1, 200 km of roads will be constructed in different districts to connect farmers with markets across the country. The completion of the projects will see farmers get easy access to markets in the long term, whiles in the short term it will create jobs for youths in those districts. Easy access to roads will lead to more profit and construction jobs for rural people will also put some money in their pockets; both scenarios is expected to increase consumer spending into the economy.
“Through labour intensive road works, we will rehabilitate about one thousand, two hundred kilometers (1200km) of trunk and feeder roads around the country. This will not only create jobs and support livelihoods for nearly five thousand (5,000) young men and women, but also help link our farmers to markets. The procurement process for these road works has already been completed,” Saffa said.
Last week, Sierra Leone’s major donor – the World Bank, announced a US$30 million funding through the International Development Association for a similar initiative.
Gayle Martin, Country Manager of the World Bank in Sierra Leone, said in a statement: “The World Bank is focusing its intervention towards helping the agricultural sector recover quickly from the effects of COVID-19 and contribute towards higher-medium to long term agricultural growth required to reduce poverty among small holder farmers and promote inclusive growth.”
Pre-COVID-19 projections showed that the Agriculture sector was expected to be one of the primary drivers of growth of the country’s economy with an expected growth of 4.2% in the current year. This has now slowed down to 3.1% amidst the pandemic.
But the 1, 200 kilometer road is not the only construction work the government aims to take up. Funding for works that have been going on will continue to be rolled out in the final quarter of this year, according to Saffa.
“For the second half of 2020, an amount of Le460.5 billion is allocated for the completion of critical road projects including Le261.6 billion for the implementation of the ongoing MOUs with road contractors for the completion of the Hill-Side Bye Pass Road, Lumley-Tokeh Road and township streets in Freetown, Bo, Kenema and Bonthe as well as spot improvement of roads in Kabala 19 and Krubonla,” the minister stated.
The supplementary budget also caters for road construction in major townships across the country.
“An amount of Le198.9 billion is allocated for the rehabilitation of city and provincial township roads in the Western, Central and Eastern Freetown, Waterloo, Bo, Bonthe, Kenema, Kailahun, Mattru, Yiffin and Tiama-Njala University Road,” he added.
These investments will attempt to kick start the construction industry in the country. Last year growth in manufacturing, mining and construction was at 7.6%, but seven months into 2020, that has now slowed down to 4.5%, according to figures from the Ministry of Finance.
Figures from the supplementary budget show that the industry sector which involves mining, manufacturing and construction will contract by 8.8%.
The theme of the supplementary budget is “Saving lives and livelihoods,” two issues Saffa said must be critically balanced, hence the supplementary budget.
A source at the Ministry said this supplementary budget has over Le1 trillion more than what was estimated to be spent in the initial 2020 budget that was approved last December.
Sierra Leone’s economy was projected to grow by an average of 4.5% over the medium term - 2020-2022. The GDP of the country, which recovered strongly by 5.4% in 2019, is expected to contract by 3.1% in the current year.
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