By Mabinty M. Kamara
The government of Sierra Leone has signed a contract with the Chinese ICT firm Huawei for the second phase of the implementation of the Fiber Optic project.
The deal entails the installation of fiber optic cables to parts of the country that have not yet been covered.
The first phase of the project was implemented under an agreement negotiated by the Ernest Bai Koroma administration. It entailed the installation of the cables and ICT facilities, including internet connections in Lungi, Port Loko, Rogbaray, Makeni, Massingbe, Sewafeh and Koidu.
Officials of the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) said besides allowing for the expansion of the project to other parts of the country, the new contract has been reviewed to cut down on cost on the government.
Mumini Jalloh, Director of Communication, MIC, said that the previous administration negotiated the phase two of the project for US$30million at a 2.5 percent interest rate with a payment period of 20 years to lay 700 kilometers of fiber cable. He said the renegotiated agreement provides for 1% interest rate within the same payment period for 690 kilometers, alongside additional features.
Jalloh was speaking to journalists at the government’s weekly press conference on Thursday held at the Ministry of Information and Communications Conference room.
The fiber optic is part of a continent wide project supported by the World Bank and ECOWAS, which aims at improving internet connectivity in the region.
Launched in 2012, the cable which runs from France to Cape Town in South Africa connects about two dozen countries, offering them the opportunity for high speed internet connectivity.
Jalloh said the ‘New Direction’ government had to renegotiate the contract with the Chinese for value added services in line with the promise made by President Julius Bio to create the enabling environment for the delivery of efficient and affordable services in Information Communication Technology (ICT), which entail voice call, data services, broad band internet, electronic governance system, digital broad band system and other value added services. This, he added, is consistent with the SDG’s goal of ‘leave no one behind’ and in line with ‘the Africa we want’ tenet of the African Union Vision 2063.
According to Mr Jalloh, this was among many issues that featured in the discussion between President Bio and his Chinese counterpart during Bio’s visit to China to attend the Forum for China Africa Corporation in 2018.
"President Bio told the president of China and the leadership of Huawei that he was interested in the project but not at the current rate, because we had promised this country an efficient management of state resources and we believe that the contract at that time was not within our promise," Jalloh stated.
“This is the first time in the history of Sierra Leone for a government to negotiate a concessional loan to 1 percent, which normally ranges from 2.5 percent,” he added.
© 2019 Politico Online
