By Saio Marrah
The Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) has during its 2023 assessment of the continuous monitoring approach, certified Sierra Leone’s Civil Aviation, after successfully passing the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Audit with a score of 74.22%, above the 60% Abuja declaration threshold.
This is from the 18% of the 2014 ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) that assessed the country’s progress made in the 2006 USOAP.
This is according to a statement by the Communication Unit of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation published on Monday 12 June 2023.
It noted that USOAP is a programme through which ICAO monitors the fulfillment of the safety oversight obligations by its member states. The USOAP’s results allow ICAO to assess States’ capabilities in providing safety oversight by assessing whether States effectively and consistently implemented the eight Critical Elements (CEs) of a Safety Oversight System.
The ICAO Team Lead, Louis Kweku Opoku during a briefing, was quoted in the press statement to have commended Sierra Leone for the significant improvement in various safety-related areas, saying that the overall Effective Implementation (EI) moved from 16% to a staggering 74%.
Opoku said that the draft report would be sent to Sierra Leone in 90 days, for comments.
The Minister of Transport and Aviation, Kabineh Kallon, after thanking the ICAO team for completing the audit exercise, affirmed that the government of Sierra Leone under the leadership of President Julius Maada Bio was committed to building a safe, secure and global competitive Civil Aviation System, which he said has been translated into such a milestone.
He said during the State opening of the fifth parliament in 2018, the president emphasised developing Sierra Leone’s Aviation Systems by addressing safety-related deficiencies.
” Since 2018, we have put modalities in place to achieve this feat. A leap from 16% to 74% is a great achievement. We are happy with the result, but we want to have the best within the sub-region,” he said.
He said once they receive the draft report, they will respond accordingly.
The Director-General of the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority (SLCAA), Dr. Moses Tiffa Baio according to the statement said the result of the ICAO team reflected what Sierra Leone has done since 2018.
He was quoted saying, "This is a testament to the leap we have taken to make the sector attractive and competitive. Under the leadership of President Dr Julius Maada Bio, Sierra Leone has a new airport that enhanced the success of the audit; the Freetown International Airport (FNA) successfully completed the first-ever Airport Certification process scoring 89%.”
Baio said those great results revealed the effort the State has exerted and assured that the SLCAA will continue to improve.
The 74% score is said to be the greatest achievement the country has experienced in its aviation history and it meets the global average.
The new airport was commissioned on the 3rd of March by President Julis Maada Bio and was opened to air traffic on the 25th of March.
At the formal commissioning of the facility, President Bio said: “Today is a great day, a new day for all of us. This is the first time in the history of this country that a completely new international airport terminal has been constructed, with the latest technology and the highest compliance standards to make it more attractive to international airlines’’.
Summa Group from Turkey constructed the airport which the company will operate under a Built, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) agreement, for a period of 25 years, after which it will be handed over to the government of Sierra Leone. $270 Million was the cost to build the airport.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (14/06/23)
