By Our Correspondent
Three days ago the World Bank offered a 50 million dollar grant to the government and people of Sierra Leone to support urban development and disaster risk management.
Sierra Leone’s urban communities are in need of all sorts of assistance from the provision of clean drinking water, toilet facilities, garbage collection and disposal, disaster relief and so on. Just yesterday, there was a big fire in middle of Freetown that caused the loss of property worth millions (probably billions) of Leonea and dozens of people homeless. This money is meant for situations like this.
At the centre of World Bank assistance to Sierra Leone in the last couple of years was outgoing Country Manager Gayle Martin (photo) who was recently featured in a documentary in which several ministers and other senior government officials highly commended her for what they saw as excellent performance.
Also, through the efforts of Gayle Martin, the World Bank has also recently agreed to fund a huge transformation of the country’s transportation sector, according to Ako Victor Mengot, a Sierra Leonean transportation expert that has been involved in this sector for decades.
Read below the press release issued by the World Bank on Wednesday:
WASHINGTON, June 25, 2021 — The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a $50 million grant from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project. The project will improve integrated urban management, service delivery, and disaster risk management in the Western Area and selected district capitals across the country. It will help address the needs of the capital Freetown as the economic engine of Sierra Leone, while catering to the unique opportunities and challenges in the district capitals: Bo, Makeni, Kenema, Koidu, Port Loko and Bonthe.
The project will support an integrated spatial approach to the multisectoral urban development challenges facing the country, including integrated urban planning, own-source revenue enhancement, infrastructure upgrading, solid waste management, and disaster preparedness and management, with the aim to support and advance livable, well-planned, financially sustainable, and productive urban centers. It complements a range of government programs, World Bank projects, and development partners’ support to leverage maximum impact for the people of Sierra Leone.“The lack of defined urban policies on land use and management of public investments continue to hamper sound urban management, particularly in district capitals,” said Gayle Martin, World Bank Country Manager for Sierra Leone.
“This project offers a major opportunity to ensure well managed urbanization that supports growth, investment, and community aspirations. Furthermore, given Sierra Leone’s vulnerability to climate-related shocks, this project supports the country’s disaster risk management capacity, contributing to sustainability and resilience.”Sierra Leone’s urban population has almost doubled in the past five decades, with over 40 percent of the population now living in urban areas. The country is highly exposed to a range of natural hazards with recurrent flooding and landslides posing the greatest risks, thus disrupting economic and social functions, and imposing high public and private costs for rehabilitation. This disaster and flood risk is further compounded by extremely limited solid waste management capacity, which has not kept pace with urbanization, especially in Freetown, hampering the city’s livability.
Presently, only 25 percent of the city’s waste is transported to its overflowing dump sites, while the remaining (more than 300 tons per day) is buried, burned, or dumped in waterways or drains. Waste clog the already insufficient stormwater drainage system, exacerbating flood risks and the prevalence of vector-borne diseases. The project will enhance the overall solid waste management system, including the construction of a new landfill in Freetown, and sustainable solutions in selected district capitals to operate and maintain their waste management systems and keep ahead of their projected population growth
.“The project aims to build basic foundations to help city councils guide resilient urban development. Over the longer-term, it aims to strengthen cities’ institutional and financial capacity and develop the appropriate integrated urban planning tools and service delivery infrastructure to enable the country to fully capture urbanization dividends,” said Tiguist Fisseha, World Bank Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist and project Task Team Leader. The total cost of the project is $56.73 million, of which $50 million is financed by the World Bank and $6.73 million from the Global Environment Facility.
Contacts: In Sierra Leone: Moses A. Kargbo, +232 76 345930, mkargbo@worldbank.orgFor more information about the World Bank’s work in Sierra Leone visit: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/sierraleone Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/worldbankafricaTwitter: https://twitter.com/WorldBankAfricaYouTube: http://www.worldbank.org/africa/youtubeListen to our Podcasts : https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/series/afronomics-a-podcast-seriesNews Release 2021/184/AFR
Comments