Despite $120M Project… Lungi Lacks Pipe-borne Water And Electricity

Lungi for a very long time has been the gateway to Sierra Leone, hosting the country’s only international airport. The airport was bequeathed to Sierra Leone by the British and it was in a terrible state until recently when efforts have been made to transform it.
The people of Lungi for very long have been receiving stillborn promises from past and present governments of the construction of a bridge.
The last time a Presidential Adviser on Infrastructure, Prof Tambi told Sierra Leoneans that they have secured funding for the construction of that bridge.
In 2021, Tambi said that the construction of the bridge would start the following year, linking Freetown to Lungi while there will also be the construction of costal road from Aberdeen to Cline town but this remains a pipe-dream.
It is worthy to note that President Bio’s Public Private Partnership agreement with a Turkish Company Summa Airport on the Design, Built, Operate and Transfer agreement of a new airport at the cost of $270M is laudable. The construction of the airport is good and must be praised because there are new terminal building and new run ways.
Just last week, President Bio visited a construction site for the development of a conference center to host the ECOWAS summit. The construction of the Conference Center will cost over $120M but it is not in the government books.
State House announced that President Bio conducted an inspection tour of the ongoing construction of the Conference Centre and Presidential Villas at Lungi, reaffirming his government’s unwavering commitment to infrastructure development and national transformation ahead of the forthcoming 69th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, scheduled for next month
State House stated that the inspection formed part of the Government’s preparations to host the high-level regional summit, providing the President with an opportunity to assess progress on one of Sierra Leone’s most ambitious infrastructure projects.
“The multi-purpose complex comprises Presidential Villas, a Presidential Conference Hall, a banquet hall, a dedicated media and press facility, a 1,500-seat auditorium, a five-star hotel, a recreational plaza, and other modern amenities designed to position Sierra Leone as a premier destination for regional and international conferences,” the state house statement noted.
Despite the huge amount of money spent on this project to just host a conference in Lungi and all the other goodies, there is the other side of Lungi which the people are talking about. While the President was assessing this ambitious project, the People of Lungi were concerned about the basic amenities- hospital, water and electricity.
After his inspection, the President lauded FB Group, for its dedication and commitment to meeting project timelines ahead of the ECOWAS Summit, noting that the development represents more than a conference venue, describing it as a strategic national investment that will strengthen Sierra Leone’s profile as a destination for diplomacy, business, tourism, and international engagement.
“This project is part of our broader vision to transform Sierra Leone through strategic infrastructure investments. It will not only serve the immediate needs of hosting the ECOWAS Summit but will also create lasting opportunities for tourism, trade, investment, and economic growth,” President Bio stated.
Indeed, the Project should not only serve the soon to be held ECOWAS Summit but should serve the purpose of promoting tourism, investment and economic growth but the question is can there be investment and tourism in a place where the people are in dire need of the basics?
There is no better health facility in Lungi yet the government is pioneering the construction of a multi-million-dollar conference center just to satisfy the ego of the government. Even for the much talked about Summit, where will government take people in case of emergency when Lungi has no proper health facility.
The Lungi water project has been in moribund for years with little or nothing being done to improve it. Even Summa that is running the airport has to rely on boreholes for supply of water to the airport. Nobody is saying the development projects in Lungi are not good but it will have enormous impacts when the basics amenities are settled.
Also, electricity supply in Lungi is very poor and sometimes when planes are about to land on the airport, one will notice the utter darkness in the community with the exception of the airport. It is so because Summa Group developed its own off-grid electricity supply just for the airport. It is a sad scene for Sierra Leone because it connotes wrong image of the country.
Even the ferries taking people from Freetown to Lungi are in a dire state. This situation needs urgent attention from the government if they are truly hosting ECOWAS summit, then the transportation from Lungi to Freetown must be fixed.
NEW AGE learnt that the government of Sierra Leone took a loan of $17M from UBA to purchase a ferry, a situation that has caused government to investigate the whole procurement process
While the major developments in Lungi are good, it will have major impacts, when the basic are fixed.