News Channel linked to government has reported that Chief Minister, Professor David Francis has led a delegation to China for the construction of a bridge between Freetown and Lungi.
The nature of negotiation between Prof Francis and the Chinese government remains unknown.
The terms of the negotiation also remains unclear.
To many Sierra Leoneans, the Lungi bridge is a mere hoax for votes.
If a bridge is not constructed within five years, how can it be constructed within a month?
If also a government fails to construct a bridge whilst in power, can it construct the bridge after it has gone out of power? It is a real politics of lies and deception.
In fact, where is parliament to approve or ratify any agreement between China and Sierra Leone?
Parliament has been dissolved barely a month ago.
Until another batch of parliamentarians is elected, no government agreement or contract goes through the legislative house.
For many Sierra Leoneans, the Lungi bridge is now a cliche; it is no longer a new terminology.
However, others remain hopeful that the bridge will materialise. Following his appointment as Foreign Affairs Minister about two years ago, Prof Francis promised to move Sierra Leone from narrow diplomacy to development diplomacy. Is the Lungi bridge project part of his development agenda?
Although moves about the Lungi bridge had been made for years, it was in June, 2019 that the project gained momentum when investors from different parts of the world landed at State House for talks. President Julius Maada Bio and Dr John Edward Tambie, Head of Presidential Initiative on Infrastructure played host to the investors.
In what looks like a dream of a lifetime being realised, the tender process for one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects was launched on the day the investors jetted in. Potential investors for the construction of the eight-kilometre bridge linking Freetown to the airport town of Lungi and the rest of the North-West of the country was deliberated on.
The discussion that lingered for hours showed that the bridge will be six lanes spanning from Freetown (Government Wharf) to Lungi.
Its costs between US$1.8bn and US$2.1bn with the potential of raising a revenue of US$11.2 within 25 years. Sierra Leoneans were also informed that the project will create 5, 350 local jobs a year.
In a press conference that preceded the investors’ negotiations, Bio assured Sierra Leoneans that his government would not resort to borrowing debts for the implementation of the project as it was based on an off-balance sheet financing.
“The Lungi bridge will lead to economic diversification and will not burden the nation with debts.
The bridge will not make Sierra Leone pay debts for 30 years,” President Bio stressed.
He said the project was worth the cost, and it would be funded without recourse to the public. Bio also assured Sierra Leoneans that the project would unlock tangible growth as thousands of jobs would be created at the initial stage.
Hopes for the Lungi bridge project were placed on Dr Tambie owing to his rich academic credentials and experience in aeronautics and transportation.
He got a B.Sc. in Aerospace Technology from Indiana State University, a Master of Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Master of Business Administration from same.
Tambie’s academic background could not translate Bio’s vision about the Lungi bridge into reality. Lies and deception about the bridge did not start during Bio’s regime.
It came up in the last days of late 1990s when Ahmed Tejan Kabba was President of Sierra Leone.
Kabba assured Sierra Leoneans that he would ease movement between Freetown and Lungi by constructing the bridge. He however went out of power without the bridge, one of the main factors that made SLPP lose 2007 elections to APC. The Lungi bridge is not the only SLPP’s deception of Sierra Leoneans.
The deception about the construction of a new city is also still fresh in people’s minds.
SLPP government officials were bold enough to take the Kenyan investor to parliament where bogus and frivolous utterances were made.
They have also gone out of power without the new city.
The Lungi bridge is also in limbo.
Lie Lie… Lungi Bridge Again
