Nightwatch is awash with several comments on the proposed US$2.1 Lungi Bridge project by the Government of President Julius Maada Bio through a Built and Operate (BOT) system using the Public Private Partnership (PPP) financing model.
Many have applauded the project and its potential to unlock the country’s potentials for growth, through the twinning up of the capital City of Freetown, the North West of the country and the neighboring country of Guinea. The construction of the bridge will also encourage potential investors into the country.
During the launching at State House, President Bio has pinpointed the fact that the project, during its construction and maintenance phases, will provide jobs for over 5,000 Sierra Leoneans. He also highlighted the fact that his Government will not build a bridge or an airport for which the people of Sierra Leone are going to pay back a high interest loan for 10, 20 and 39 years.
“Each infrastructural investment must be able to pay for itself in 10 to 20 years depending on the financing model that is used,” the President noted.
The argument around the economic efficiency of the project has been centered on the cost of the bridge. Many have brought to the fore various bridges across the world, including their cost to criticize the cost of the Lungi Bridge project. For them the Lungi Bridge is quite expensive considering the current economic crunch.
Other sets of Sierra Leoneans have raised questions around tax and interest rates for the project. While all of these issues are being raised we are yet to hear from our bilateral partners and other financial institutions that are critical towards supporting our budget.
Many have opined in social media fora that they are still finding it difficult to understand the government’s position that the project will be of no cost to the Government of Sierra Leone.
A popular APC party stalwart, Kabs Kanu, has gone as far as bringing to the fore the failure of Public Private Partnerships in countries such as the Netherlands. He raised quite an apprehension that there are many risks associated with PPPs for a very poor country like Sierra Leone.
“Public Private Partnerships have a high failure rate as seen in the Netherlands, where PPP-based transport infrastructure projects failed. While PPPs have succeeded in some countries, they have failed dramatically in many countries and the economic consequences for a debt poor ridden country like Sierra Leone, if it fails here, will be astronomical and catastrophic economically,” Kabs Kanu opined.
Whatever the many opinions and criticisms around the Lungi Bridge Project, it is crystal clear that the project has got huge potentials for economic growth in a country where tourism and agriculture have huge potentials.
Freetown is heavily congested and there is a huge possibility that the building of the bridge will open up the prospect for the expansion and decongestion of the city.
President Bio and the numerous technocrats around him, especially the world and United Nations’ renowned transportation expert, Dr. Tambi, Head of Infrastructural Initiatives at the Office of the President, could have explored the pros and cons for such a financing model for a poor stricken country like Sierra Leone.
Like the USD156 million Wellington-Masiaka toll road, Sierra Leoneans will only come to realize the full benefits of the bridge when it is completed and comes into full use.
We want to encourage all, including experts in the private sector and transportation areas, to come on board and support the venture.
The APC and other detractors should avoid bringing into the discourse the Mamamah Airport and city projects, which was a debt from the Exim Bank of China. Even though the project also had potentials for tourism and other economic potentials, it was the considered view of the IMF and the Bio administration that the project was not a priority for a country that has a huge debt burden.
We are confident that the Lungi Bridge project will come into fruition.