Officials of the Office of Presidential Infrastructure Initiative and SUMMA Group- the contracting company, have on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, received the first consignment for the ongoing construction of a new airport in Lungi.

The shipment included an Asphalt Plant which is about 35 meters high , tunnels, rails, 40ft containers etc.

According to Dr. John Edward Tambi, Chairman-Office of Presidential Infrastructure Initiative, this was the first of many shipments they will be receiving for the said project.
He stated that the project resonates with President Julius Maada Bio’s vision of transforming the country through infrastructural development.

“This is a vivid testimony of that effort. And this is the beginning of that effort.”
Chairman Tambi revealed that the project has already started and in two years time, the country will be proud of a new airport.

“ We have cleared and fenced almost 400 acres of the land. So work is going on as I speak, but the actually work will start in few months time. What we are doing now is to mobilize the plants and equipment, prepare the place for the workers to be and to also prepare it for work to take place so that it won’t distract the activities of the existing airport,” he said.

Dr. Tambi further disclosed that a couple of more shipments are set to come inclusive the concrete plant and over 1000 more containers.
He assured that the new airport will be the best in the region with a “resurfaced, stabilized and restructured exiting runway, a new airport passenger terminal, a new VIP terminal, a new parallel taxiway to the existing runway, a new air traffic control tower to reflect Sierra Leone etc.”

Ibrahim Sheriff is the Country Director of SUMMA Group. He expressed excitement about the arrival of the first shipment.
He pointed out that the equipment, particularly the Asphalt Plant, will be of immense help in the advancement of the project.

“It’s very key in terms of speed in what we have to be doing in the construction stage.”