Sorie AbuBakarr (40 ACRES CANADA): Sierra Leone Telegraph: 1 October 2023:
President Bio has once again promised to construct the Lungi Bridge which he referred to as a transformative infrastructure project, one of the biggest investment opportunities in Sierra Leone, and not just a political promise.
According to Journalist Amadu Lamarana Bah, Bio made this promise to Sierra Leoneans at a Town Hall meeting in Washington DC last month, saying, “I know I still owe you the Lungi Bridge, I have said it and I will do it.”
If constructed, the bridge will shorten significantly, the traveling distance from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone to Lungi, Port Loko district where the Freetown International Airport is located.
The Lungi Bridge project was one of the campaign promises made by Maada Bio during his 2018 presidential election campaign. However, five years later, there has been no headway with the project.
Opposition parties and several Sierra Leoneans have criticized the President over failure to fulfil his promise.
In January 2022, President Bio lamented at struggles to finance the project during a meeting with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
“Currently, a mix of ferry and private boats move people and goods across. The economic and other benefits of a bridge that joins the two landmasses are immense. But there is a struggle mobilizing exclusively private capital to finance such a large venture.” He said.
Editor’s note:
This story was first published in 40 ACRES CANADA
A bridge to Lungi would have been ideal and for a Government that was very keen on developing the airport and its environs. The truth is a lot of people living and traveling to and from Lungi would have preferred a bridge rather than this so called new airport where everything is priced in dollars. Having a new airport with challenging access does not make economic sense.
But the question is at what cost after the shady dealings around the BOT airport contract and its valuation that has never been transparent. One would have expected any serious anti corruption commissioner to investigate this daylight robbery.
How incongruous and baffling that Maada Bio should bring up the subject of the Lungi Bridge while ensconced in five star hotel thousands of miles away from home. What is in display here are two Maada Bios – the one who tries to fool the international community and the one who is in sixes and sevens at home, having lost control of every sector of country.
In his speech at the UN General Assembly meeting recently Bio gave reign to his achievements since assuming office to make the world believe that Sierra Leone is the centre of the universe, where everything is within reach of all citizens. You come to Sierra Leone and your worldly problems are over. He even attacked the Americans for trying to poke their nose into his grand design to lift his country into the realm of euphoria.
Conversely our Bio has been disguising a few details which will convey him into the kingdom where paradoxes are the main diet: a lifeless economy that is virtually under international sanctions; freedom of expression is met with bullets in the skull ; there is no legislature; The Rule of Law is applied by a bent Judiciary; the country is tangibly polarised tribally and regionally. The catalogue of an un-endearing environment is endless.
With all these paradoxes, how does our Bio expect to raise funds for the Lungi Bridge when he cannot even meet the wage bill of the government?
Please save your breath and think positive. Both the bridge and the Airport is not the property of the President but we the PEOPLE. By the way, Bio never promised to build a bridge during his 2018 campaign. With all your political ups and down, please tell me what your party will do when they come to power!!! As a born of Lungi, I support the President on these infrastructure issues, they are good for us today and tomorrow.