{"id":51823,"date":"2013-01-14T15:34:43","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T15:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=51823"},"modified":"2013-01-14T15:34:43","modified_gmt":"2013-01-14T15:34:43","slug":"another-airport-for-sierra-leone-at-mamamah-lets-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=51823","title":{"rendered":"Another airport for Sierra Leone? At Mamamah? Let\u2019s review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Editor: Please allow me to use your newspaper to make an appeal to H.E. the President, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma for a review of Presidential decision to locate a new airport at Mamamh.\u00a0 (Photo: Lungi International Airport, terminal<\/em>)<\/p>\n

To say the least, this is a location that is not in the best interest of the economics of airports for Sierra Leone and so it should be relocated.<\/p>\n

The need for a new airport, will not be deliberated into. This is not the issue. Let us assume that the President in his wisdom has concluded that a new airport is necessary for the country. There are always pros and cons to major decisions. So let it suffice at this point to accept this decision as beneficial to the construction and infrastructure industry. What we have to look into is the decision to locate this at Mamamah.<\/p>\n

Mamamah is between Masiaka and Waterloo. This bit of land is non-habited and is mostly bushy. In a situation where there were no airports in Sierra Leone, or even one near Freetown, this would have been an ideal location. However, in light of what obtains in Sierra Leone today, I would propose a location between Bo and Kenema. However, it is necessary to understand this recommendation from several perspectives.<\/p>\n

Firstly, servitude.<\/strong> By far this is the most critical of points to consider. Who is the airport serving? The airport is supposed to serve the passengers entering and leaving the country from all parts of the country. The population going to use this new airport are located in Freetown, and the other major hubs in the North and South. You will find that these locations are at least 100Km away from this airport. To be precise, Makeni is 100km away, Bo is 180Km, Port Loko is 100Km away. Even for a small country like Sierra Leone, these are great distances to have to travel to get to the airport. Lungi international Airport was located where it is because it was the nearest flat land close to the sea and Freetown that could be identified. Also, it is noteworthy that the provincial headquarter towns of Makeni, Kenema and Bo do not have functioning airports. This is a good opportunity to begin to bring air travel to the doorsteps of these residents.<\/p>\n

Secondly, reduction of travel times.<\/strong> Travel time to Freetown from this new airport, if well coordinated, takes one and half hours to reach Central. Coming from Mamamah, going through Eastern and arriving at Central Freetown alone is still 2 hours on a normal day and 3 hours during rush hours. The burden on passengers has not been reduced. Travel to the provinces is also not reduced. In six months, we will be having the completion of the Lungi-Port Loko road that will bring Rogbere nearer, and so travel from Lungi will be the same to any of the provincial headquarter towns as from Mamamah. Whereas, location near Bo and Kenema will at least reduce some travel time.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, availability of labour.<\/strong> Due to the remote location of the airport, all personnel will have to be imported from the cities. This will require the construction of new quarters for the staffs of course as there are no such facilities in the vicinity. I am sure this has been taken into account. The effect is to have a new city as proposed in the announcement.<\/p>\n

Fourthly, present expansion and development programmes at Lungi.<\/strong> Lungi International is being rehabilitated at great cost to the nation. Allied services such as the helicopter terminal, the high speed boat services are being built. With another airport at Mamamah, what happens to all of these plans and the boats and helicopters planned? Where is the traffic to support all these facilities? What will be the future of the inhabitants of Lungi. Their source of livelihood will be lost in three years when the new airport will be built.<\/p>\n

Finally, politics.<\/strong> Granted that Freetown and Port Loko can be served by the Lungi International Airport, a good reason why the government in power would not want to have the new airport in the South or East is political. The South and the East are predominantly opposition party supporters. Otherwise, it makes sense to develop Bo or Kenema or the two by having a new international airport near these two. Passengers to the North of the country can opt to go to Lungi, while those to the South and East could go to the new location. It makes sense. The cost will be effective as personnel can be easily located. Electricity is nearby. Domestic air travel between South and North can now be developed as well. The neighbouring Liberians can sometimes opt to land in the new airport and make a quick trip to their country. International travel and trade will flourish.<\/p>\n

Mr Editor, May I appeal to the President, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma to review the decision to locate the airport at Mamamah, not because we have any problems with the village, but because there are more reasons to go farther away from Lungi than there are to be closer to Lungi and Freetown. The President has to think above politics and make a national and memorial decision. This project relocated will be a legacy project for the true development of Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Francis H. Lahai, Professional Civil Engineer. <\/em><\/p>\n

Tel:033<\/a> 666900, 078 781396.<\/p>\n

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Dear Editor: Please allow me to use your newspaper to make an appeal to H.E. the President, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma for a review of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":15734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[671],"tags":[14511,14512,2279],"class_list":["post-51823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-airport","tag-freetown-airport","tag-sierra-leone-airport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}