Freetown’s $92.3 million cable car project has cleared every technical, environmental and financial review in its path, yet remains frozen at the doorstep of Sierra Leone’s Cabinet, where a single approval has stalled for more than two years.

The 3.6-kilometre pilot line, designed to carry up to 6,000 passengers per hour between Government Wharf and the Kissy Ferry Terminal, completed its feasibility study in 2024 and secured Ministry of Finance backing in September 2025. But Cabinet authorization the final gate before construction can begin has not materialized, according to statements from Freetown City Council officials.

Municipal expert Modupe Williams told a World Urban Forum panel in Baku in May that Freetown’s terrain makes conventional transit nearly impossible. “The cable car project is seen as the optimal transportation solution for a city with hilly terrain and narrow streets,” Williams said, describing a city where multi-story buildings are virtually nonexistent, and land use remains deeply inefficient.

The proposed system would slash a commute that currently takes over an hour by road to roughly 15 minutes, with a flat fare of NLe16 for the full journey. Five stations Government Wharf, East-End Police, Mountain Cut, Up Gun and Ferry Junction would anchor the route, which is designed to run primarily on solar power.

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Deputy Mayor Kweku Lisk framed the project in terms that go beyond transit. “This isn’t just a transportation project; it’s a social equalizer,” he said, citing improved access to schools, hospitals and markets for hillside communities that have long been cut off from the central business district.

The financial architecture for the project is largely in place. The total cost stands at $92.3 million, with support secured from the governments of Britain, France and Germany, alongside C40 Cities and GIZ. The French government has committed to covering half the cost of equipment, and technical representatives from Austrian manufacturer Doppelmayr and France’s Poma have visited Freetown to advise the project team.

C40 Cities funded the $1 million feasibility study that confirmed the line’s technical and financial viability. Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr has said the project requires only government approval to proceed, not direct state expenditure.

Yet the Cabinet has not acted. In an interview, Aki-Sawyerr said the project “is ready to take off”, but the national government has yet to grant final approval. A Ministry of Finance letter in September 2025 advised that Cabinet approval would be required before the process could advance a step that city officials say has not been taken.

The delay carries consequences beyond the project’s own timeline. Freetown’s population exceeds 1.2 million and is projected to double by 2028, driven by migration into an already congested city. The “Transform Freetown Transforming Lives” agenda, launched in July 2024, aims to create 120,000 jobs by 2028, with the cable car positioned as a flagship initiative under its urban mobility pillar.

Freetown Council officials have also noted that the city’s climate action plan preceded its master plan and urban planning framework, leaving a 20-to-30-year gap in systemic strategy. A new planning law was approved in December 2025, but implementation tools remain under development.

The cable car project, in that context, is not merely a transit upgrade. It is a test of whether Freetown’s institutions can execute on a plan that has already survived every technical and financial scrutiny placed before it.

For now, the system sits unbuilt, its stations designed, its financing largely arranged, its manufacturer engaged, and its fate resting on a Cabinet decision that has yet to be scheduled.