By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has said the Bank would consider part funding the Lungi Bridge project. Adesina was responding to a question regarding the Bank’s position on its financing.
He was speaking during a press briefing on Thursday at State House in Freetown, as part of his first visit to the country since he was elected as head of the Abidjan-based regional financial institution in 2015.
In June last year, the government of President Julius Maada Bio opened the tender process for the construction of an eight-kilometer bridge to connect the airport town of Lungi to the capital Freetown.
The project is estimated to cost between US$1.8 to US$ 2 billion, making it the most ambitious infrastructural project ever launched by country.
Adesina said AfDB would study the contract once it is drawn up and consider the options.
“The project is currently being structured. When it is structured, we will take a look at it and look at the different participants in it, look at the financing of it, the financing gap that is needed and bring different instruments to it; whether it is to help reduce the risk of participation for various investors in the project or whether it is about co-financing,” he told journalists.
Adesina arrived in Sierra Leone on Wednesday and spent the last two days holding meetings with key ministries like Education, Finance, Agriculture, Energy, and Water Resources.
The Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority and the Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone were also part of the discussions.
Adesina announcement increased investment in sectors like Agriculture, infrastructure and women’s empowerment. He said the Bank currently had an investment portfolio of US$185 million in the country, 42% of which is investment in Water and Sanitation.
The Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, said the visit of the AfDB President was indicative of the level of cooperation between Sierra Leone and the Bank.
“The fact that the AfDB President is here shows how far we have come. I believe the tie between Sierra Leone and the Bank has been deepened further,” Saffa said.
Adesina gave a good assessment of Sierra Leone’s economy and praised the government for how much they had done with policies like fiscal consolidation and revenue mobilization.
He however urged the government to make sure that the gains are replicated to better living condition for citizens.
“At the end of the day, nobody eats GDP, development must be felt in the lives of people,” he said.
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