By Ralph Sesay
Minister of Development and Economic Planning, Dr. Francis Kaikai, has while delivering a statement at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development streamlined the support already committed by the bank to Sierra Leone’s development trajectory.
Minister Kaikai disclosed that the bank has funded the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration project through the solar street lights project in Freetown and thirteen Municipalities, the modernization and expansion of Network and Telecommunications Infrastructure of SIERRATEL in Sierra Leone.
The Development and Economic Planning Minister told the one-day conference that the public sector projects did not only achieve their projects development objectives, but that they created jobs for thousands of youths in the country.
He also stated that the ECOWAS Bank was not only involved in public sector development projects but also has got a track record for supporting private sector development in the country, indicating that the bank is currently financing the construction of former Cape Sierra Hotel and that government is looking ahead to the bank to support the construction of the Kono University of Science and Technology, and the establishment of the Diagnostic Center of Excellence.
The former United Nations Diplomat disclosed that the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development has already acknowledged receipt of the request to build both the University of Science and Technology and the Diagnostic Center under an Indian Line of Credit of Fifty Million United States Dollars.
The Development Minister used the conference to showcase Sierra Leone’s New Medium Term Development Framework to the ECOWAS Bank Governors.
This, he stated, will not succeed without the collaboration and support from our development partners; bilateral as well as multi lateral, especially international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank.