Sierra Leone Telegraph: 02 April 2023:
In June 2022, Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr launched a two-year feasibility study into the Freetown Cable Car Project. Ten months on, she said yesterday that she is thrilled with the progress that is being made.
Last Wednesday, she met with international consultants – Markus Hagspiel, a Cable Car Ropeway Expert and Teferra Sileshi of GFA Heat who are in Freetown for two weeks.
Also present at the meeting were Ing Badamasi Savage who is conducting the local transport demand study and the Mayor’s Delivery Unit/GIZ project consultants Ing Modupe Williams and Ing Simon Johnson.
Yesterday, she also met with members of the American Institute of Architects (“AIA”) who are in Freetown providing pro-bono services to the Cable Car project. The six-person AIA team are committed to providing the people of Freetown with preliminary concept designs for the Cable Car stations where passengers will embark and disembark, presenting excellent opportunities for mixed use commercial developments.
The AIA team are collaborating with the faculty and students of the Architecture Department of Fourah Bay College, in making Mayor Aki-Sawyerr’s dream of Freetown having a cable car transport system, a reality.
Writing in a statement yesterday, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr said: “ The Cable Car project is a key component of my vision to transform Freetown into a more inclusive city that is accessible and attractive to investors, tourists and residents alike.
“Integrating modern transport options such as a Cable Car system will help to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, which are serious issues facing our city today. The feasibility study is being conducted with the utmost care and attention to detail, ensuring that every aspect of the project is considered and planned for.
“The international cable car specialists are bringing their vast knowledge and expertise to the table, while the local transport demand study is vital to ensuring that the project meets the needs of Freetown residents.
“The Cable Car project has the potential to generate revenue for the city, while also improving the daily lives of our residents. The feasibility study for the Cable Car project will be completed in March 2024.
“I am confident that the cable car transport system will be a success and a valuable asset to the city of Freetown. I look forward to working with all stakeholders to make this vision a reality, and to continue building a city that is inclusive, sustainable and prosperous for all Freetonians.”
5MoreToDoMore – Let us Transform Freetown
Let’s have a stable electricity supply first before talking about cable cars. Electricity supply in Freetown is a complete joke. Do the simple things first like good environmental sanitation, regular water supply, decongesting the city,before embarking on complex projects madam mayor. How can we have cable cars when we can’t generate our own electricity but reliant on a foreign floating vessel for our power supply? Please stop this nonsense and get to basics.
Mr. Davis, to the point, correct and accurate. I hope others will follow suit!!
Karim Conteh, I thank you for taking the time to read my submission. Allow me to emphatically state that Freetonians may be a lot of things and more, but stupidity is not one of them; that’s why Yvonne Aki-Sawyer is popular with them. They can recall the number of times when the Bio Government tried not only to curtail her powers but totally remove her from office.
You must understand that to have a clean,well maintained city ,anywhere in the world, a local government needs the support of the central government from which the former draws part of it budget. Nothing happens for free, not even in the developed world. The political purity of Yvonne stood as the powerhouse which mitigated all of the Bio Government’s escapades to throw her out, augmented by constitutional constraints. Remember when Yvonne was brought before Parliament on suspicion of corruption, the very parliament which Honourable Ngevao described as corrupt?
Can you recall the answer which Maada Bio gave when he was asked why his government was dominated by Mendes? He laid the background for people to become wary of interacting with Mende people in official circles – an extremely sad situation. Our dear country will continue to suffer as a result, since competent and resourceful people are denied the chance to help us because recruitment is based on tribe. Do you know the whereabouts of the former central bank governor, Kelfala Kallon?
If you ever gain direct access to Maada Bio, please caution him that certain things are better left unsaid. Many thanks. Be ready for Yvonne’s landslide.
Santhkie Sorie, why do you have to blame President Bio for the former mayor’s downfall. She talked more and did less. Look at the filthiness and deplorable conditions of our city. Over crowding street trading taking over pedestrian walkways, car parks and even the drainage channels along the streets of Freetown.
Remember that she was captured in an audio saying that she do not want to work with someone who says BUWA BESEH. She made it known categorically that she won’t work with the President because he is a BUWA BESEH man (mende). It should have been the other way mate to put forward your comment across.
Stop the blame game. The majority of Sierra Leoneans are not that stupid if you are thinking so.
Karim Conteh,
Good insights. I find it interesting that there are folks that are ever so ready to not only give incompetence a pass but to really celebrate it and request for more of it. Never have I seen a Freetown that is so filthy and so divided tribally than today. Yvonne Aki-Sawyer has demonstrated in five years that she is an incompetent mayor and that all that she is interested in is a photo opportunity with world leaders, dividing folks along tribal lines and presiding over a filthy city a high disease incidence.
If the central government is not providing financial support for the Freetown City Council, why was the ex-mayor ordered by the country’s anti-Corruption Commission to refund a large sum of money that she had misappropriated? Also, for those that blame the central government for ex-mayor Aki-Sawyer’s incompetence and arrogance, I ask, why does the central government maintain a very cordial relationship with other mayors in the country? Why is that there are no complaints coming from Makeni, Bo, Kenema, Koidu and other cities?
Freetown cannot be governed well if all that the mayor is interested in is establishing a parallel government with competing policies in foreign affairs. Sierra Leone can have only one President and one Foreign minister at a time.
A welcome approach that will give Freetown some attraction and another means of transportation. The centre of Freetown looks very tired and dated with the night life more of a ghost town than a city. I hope the Mayor in her second term will look at making the city centre more vibrant.
Freeto.ians have no toilets and clean water in areas . Yet some politician wants to invest for the rich freetonians to travel easier. Wow unbelievable spend the money on people that need it.
Where does it say that?
Yvonne Aki-Sawyer is a woman in politics which distinguishes her from most of the rest who are boys and girls. She wants to do something for her people while most of the rest want to do something for themselves – that’s why they are in politics.
The only thing that Yvonne needs is a president who is willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with her to enable her to accomplish her dream for her city. Bio has not measured up, rather, for almost five years, his main ambition has been to try to trip her, but for the fact that Yvonne has the legs of a colossus.