By Crispina Taylor
Members of parliament have asked the Sierra Leone Roads Authority to further consult with relevant parties, the construction company China Railway Seventh Group and the ministry of transport, involved in the Wellington-Masiaka road construction agreement.
The deal, according to Abdul Aziz Kamara who heads the roads authority, was set to give a 25-year concession to the Chinese who would construct the first toll road system in the country. The 45-kilometre high-way will link Freetown from Wellington, in the east of the city, to the northern town of Masiaka.
The toll system requires vehicle owners to pay a specified sum of money to use the road. The Chinese will bankroll the project and are expected to recover their expenditure within the 25 years concession period.
According to a power point presentation made to parliament and seen by Politico, the proposed fees arrangement requires owners of small taxis to pay Le3, 000, while mini buses will pay Le 5, 000. Medium sized buses are to pay Le10, 000. Medium sized trucks will pay Le50, 000, while heavy trucks will pay Le400, 000. Tractors and trailers will be required to pay 500, 000.
MPs had strongly objected to the huge fee charged on trailers when the bill was first brought to the well of parliament about two weeks ago and was kicked out of the House.
And last week when it returned the MPs decided to resend it to the relevant committee for further consultations.
Among the MPs who called for further public consultations was Kemokoh Conteh of Constituency 94 in the Western Rural District. He reminded his colleagues that the ex-junta regime under the National Provisional Ruling Council had attempted to introduce the toll system and that it failed because of “poor sensitization”.
“A lot of sensitization must be carried out on the agreement so that it is understood very well by the public for it not to cause problem,” Conteh said and also cautioned against high charges.
Other MPs were concerned about how the money collected for the use of the road would be calculated.
Helen Kuyembeh, MP for Constituency 75 in Bo District, was concerned about the ‘tax waiver’ allocated to the construction company. She wanted to know whether it was general or only for the current project. Kuyembeh sounded worried that the Chinese company might seek to flout the waiver by importing items not related to the project.
“The agreement document is rushed; it needs to go back to the drawing board,” she said.
Some other MPs had observed that the Wellington-Masiaka road, which is currently two-lane, was already in existence, and that the Chinese were only going to construct two new lanes.
MPs like Karifala Sheku Conteh of Constituency 98 in the Western Urban district believe there is the need to assess the worth of the current road so that appropriate deductions can be done from the fees of the company.
Conteh is also concerned about potential cost for the government due to damages to utilities along the road like the fiber optic cables.
This agreement was first tabled before parliament by Minister of Transport and Aviation, Balogun Koroma. The failure to pass the bill earlier has been blamed on, among other reasons, his failure to sufficiently explain the details of it to the House.
(C) Politico 02/03/16
