By Morlai Sesay
In a significant news conference held on Tuesday, February 13th, 2024, the Honourable Minister, Dr Sandi, highlighted the successes of the Ministry of Works and Public Assets since his assumption of office last year. The Minister revealed the foregoing at the weekly press briefing held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Conference Hall, Tower Hill, Freetown.
Speaking about the mandate of the Ministry, Sandi explained that the Ministry of Works and Public Assets is charged with the responsibility to design, coordinate, and monitor the implementation of policies and programs for the development of physical and social infrastructure (buildings, roads) and management of public assets in Sierra Leone.
Under the second term of the Bio-led administration, Sandi updated that the government has made it a priority to make sure that there is a road infrastructure that would facilitate the quick and more effortless movement of people, including their goods and services in the country and at the same time advance the country so that the integrity of Sierra Leone will continue to be upheld internationally in terms of good road network. He said one of the most critical road networks is the Wellington and Masiaka Highway, which directly connects the North and South East. He emphasized that the government, in the shortest time, had expanded the trade facilitation between Sierra Leone and Liberia, enhanced the security network, and shortened the time people traveled to the eastern part of Sierra Leone.
Touching on the aspect of the accidents that used to occur when people travel, Sandi disclosed that it has become a thing of the past because the roads, he said, are constructed in a way that is challenging for drivers to collide while driving. He noted that the only way people experience accidents along those roads these days is either through the flat tire of a vehicle or since drivers sleep off while driving on the highway due to the smoothness of the roads.
The Minister further disclosed that under his watch, the Ministry of Works and Public Assets, SLRA, and the European Union commissioned the 14 roads leading from Makolo junction to Mabang Bridge in November last year. According to the Minister, the said road project is partly funded by the Government of Sierra Leone and the European Development Fund.
Sixty-three percent, says the Minister, is funded by the European Union, and thirty-seven percent by the Government of Sierra Leone. Also, Sandi disclosed that the government, in his wisdom, kindly compensated all those with properties along the road axis. The project, which, according to the Minister, commenced on the 1st of November 2023, is expected to be completed on the 1st of January 2025.
Commenting on the alleged financial mismanagement at the Sierra Leone Roads Authority, he noted that the SLRA has the responsibility to award contracts but that there is an ongoing process of recalibration of the process used at the SLRA to award contracts. He emphasized that his ministry would have to look into the actual reference and that he is unhappy about the 30% audit report regarding SLRA as a minister.
As a Minister of Works, he assured the gathering that he had put the contractor in charge of refurbishing the Miatta Conference Center on his toes so that the project could be completed in the shortest time possible. On his recent site visit, Minister Sandi said that the task yet to be completed at the conference hall is the cooling system, but that he said it would be done and dusted from now to the first week of March.
He concluded that he has got approval for the construction of significant township roads like the Matru jong township roads, Bo extension, Kenema, Pujehun, Port Loko township road, which he said is ongoing, and Kono township road that is yet to be completed as well. All of the aforementioned projects, he said, are on the agenda of President Bio, and they will all be completed shortly.
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