14 Comments
The Government of Sierra Leone and U.S.-based company Acrow have officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the long-anticipated financing and construction of the Lungi Bridge.
The agreement, based on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model, was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Bryan Hunt.
Acrow, a company with over 70 years of experience in bridge construction across more than 150 countries, including over 40 in Africa, is set to bring American technology, engineering, and project management to the significant infrastructure investment.
The United States government has expressed its commitment to ensuring the commercial success of this partnership for both nations.
When constructed, the bridge will shorten by a significant amount, the traveling distance from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone to Lungi, Port Loko district where the Freetown International Airport is located.
The Lungi Bridge project was one of the campaign promises made by Maada Bio during his 2018 presidential election campaign. Opposition parties and several Sierra Leonean have criticized the President over failure to fulfil his promise.
In 2019, the President launched the official tender process for investors. He made it clear then that Sierra Leone would not take on debt for the bridge, saying it must pay for itself over time and help boost the economy.
In January 2022, President Bio lamented at struggles to finance the project during a meeting with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
In October 2023, President Bio spoke again about the bridge at a Town Hall meeting in Washington, D.C., saying, “I know I still owe you the Lungi Bridge. I have said it and I will do it.”
In December 2023, the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Road and Bridge Corporation and the Atépa Group. The proposed bridge is expected to be 8 km long with an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. Officials said a study would be completed within months and that construction could begin by the end of 2024 but that didn’t happen.
Politics is by the corner
There is time for anything bro.
This time around not until we see the starting of the construction
The issues of Contacts signing a Contract is Expired Now
A Revolution is taken place now.
Centralization Government cannot do anything without signing of Contacts
The world is Moving in to Decentralization wearing Leadership is owned by the communities people in the Digital Age
Eg
You will see a young boy Driving SUV, Roserule, Prado geep. Know Government has the right to arrest him
The same thing again you can see a young man Doing great things in the community were he live know government arrested him.
Because Cryptocurrency will be announced soon
In the cryptos there is a A Revolutionary Currency exchange their. Which is valuable in USDs Bitcoin and others Cryptos
We pray that Trump will announce this month.
This is looking like desperation – ee 4 be paopa. I hope we understand the difference between a MOU and a contract agreement. Not to repeat the mistake made by the premature announcement of the Info Minister some 2 years or so back.
May God help him with the financial management in Jesus name Amen
I see the Chief Minister has put himself front and center again. This is an elaborate ruse for his presidential campaign. Obviously, we don’t have the funds and unless they want to charge a hundred dollar toll, being that we don’t have the traffic, no company is taking on the financial burden of building a billion dollar bridge in Sierra Leone. It doesn’t make financial sense.
@AlhajiKoroma: please point to the place in the article where it was stated that ‘building the proposed bridge’ will cost a billion dollar? Where did you get your figure from? Sierra Leoneans are really unhappy and don’t see anything good about their country. sai!
Indeed! this Alhaji Kamara is an anti Sierra Leonean. He is against the development of this nation. Let’s lay aside our party politics, tribalism, regionalism and help to develop this nation, a land that we love Mama Salon.
We are far left behind.. let us think about agriculture than of bridge making hoo
That’s politics
2028 is on the way coming
Mr president when the work will start
It’s this month or next month
I think we should be praying for its to be actualize, its not about politics it about the development of our nation. President bio has everything it takes for him and his generation to live a happily till the end of the world, if he is trying to under take a huge development like that for us as a nationa and our generation yet unborn, the best i expect from us as a patriotic citizen is prayer, otherwise it has no negative effect on him and his families.
It also happened during former president koroma tenure the toll road there were critis and today we are enjoying it, he is not even within the country.
We will be glad as a country to achieve this great opportunity and mile stone with our beloved president Julius Maada Bio, this will take our economy and the country to another level.
Hopping for this dream to come true now because it has take a very long time with this building bridge project.