By Prince J Musa in Kenema
President Julius Maada Bio has commissioned the construction of the Gendema Ferry Bridge worth 8.4 million dollars to link Boajibu in the Simbaru chiefdom and Gendema in Wandor and Gourama Mende Chiefdom in Kenema District.
The bridge will be constructed by a Chinese company Sino hydro bureau 9 limited Cooperation with a 15 months’ timeline to address the problem associated with outdated cable ferry crossing and to make accessibility for agricultural products and other businesses in the chiefdoms easier.
Addressing the people of Simbaru, Wandor, Gourama Mende at Gawama President Bio said he wanted to know the problems of his people in terms of transportation, health, agriculture among others and therefore, the tour will enable him to ascertain their challenges as a government. He said government decided to solve the problem of ferry crossing due to the fact that a lot of lives have perished over the years when crossing the ferry especially during the rainy season.
He added that it is important to change the ferry because it has posed a lot of difficulties for school going children, women, and farmers to access certain government services.
The President advised the young people to be proactive in protecting the votes of the people and not allow anybody to threaten them for their rights.
The Chief Minister, Jacob Jusu Saffa who chaired the programme said the changing of ferry crossing points into bridges was the initiative of President Bio during his campaign from 2012 to 2018. He said, after they won the election, he reminded the President about those ferry points to be changed to bridges.
The Director General of the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) Engineer Amara Kanneh said there are fifteen ferry crossing points within the country that are set to be transformed to bridges. He also said that seven of the crossing points that will be changed into bridges are funded by the World Bank and the European Union (EU).
He stated that the Gendema Bridge will be 120 meters long, The Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Abubakar Karim described the event as another great relief for the farmers as he said it will help them access the market and add value to their products. He encouraged the stakeholders to give full support to the company doing the work.
The Chief Engineer of Sino hydro bureau 9 Construction limited, Fan Jin Hui, assured the government that they will do the job within the time frame . He said they have engaged the community and they will work with them to ensure the project is delivered on time.
On behalf of the Paramount Chief of Simbaru, Mamie Gbofor Gamanga thanked the government through President Bio for considering their suffering by making sure that Gendema ferry is transformed into a bridge. She said as traditional leaders they are grateful to the government for such development efforts in their chiefdoms especially when linking the sister chiefdoms together.
She stated that they will fully support the project.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (19/04/23)
