By Kortor Kamara
Email: Kortorkamara@yahoo.com
The paucity of credible public information, data and contract financials documentation, witnessed especially in mining and other bilateral agreements, signed by the government on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone, has again reared its ugly head in the implementation of the World Bank financed Sierra Leone Integrated and Resilient Urban Mobility Project.
While much focus and analysis, some politically motivated and erroneous, but mostly on point and appropriate, has been placed on implementation and gaps identified in the 50 Waka Fine buses rollout and attendant flaws in execution, there has been a shocking lack of public knowledge and discourse on the totality of the project, of which the Waka Fine buses are only a single 7.5 million dollars line item.
This comprehensive urban mobility project, consisting of its approximately 92 line item deliverables categorized under Works, Goods, Non-Consulting Services, Individual Consultants and Consulting Firms, if properly and fully implemented according to the World Bank grant procurement plan, stands to not only revolutionize and improve public transportation but the proposed infrastructural construction and rehabilitation of facilities stands to propel Freetown into an elite and planned transportation corridor in the region.
To better understand and be able to properly monitor implementation of such a laudable 50- million dollars World Bank grant project, designed to overhaul public transportation and related infrastructure in Freetown, Sierra Leoneans must avail themselves of the World Bank project Procurement Plan Report.
This Procurement Plan, initially approved by the World Bank on March 14, 2018 and recently revised on February 7, 2024 with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development as the executing government agency, was recently forwarded to me by the World Bank on February 8, 2024, the contents of which informs and is the basis of this analysis.
A review of the Procurement Plan is instructive in understanding the project deliverables, works/ activities, components, procurement process, projected and actual amounts expended on work activities, process status, goods activity and descriptions, consulting firms, non consulting services, individual consultants activities and descriptions and cancelled works and goods activities.
Below is a breakdown of some of the expected deliverables as noted in the approved Procurement Plan, which we as Sierra Leoneans must assiduously be vigilant in ensuring that such a laudable road mobility project is fully implemented according to plan, without shoddy shortcuts, pilferages and fraudulent conversions so previously endemic in such national projects.
WORKS:
According to the comprehensive Procurement Plan, the following deliverables are included in the works program for the urban mobility project :
1) Road improvement on the west corridor from Juba to the Central Business District with Signalization at selected intersections, in the amount of $10,787,389.99 with a contract completion date of November 28, 2020.
2) Erection of sign posts and construction of temporal perimeter fence on proposed land for construction of transit terminal and market, in the amount of $8,232.22.
3) Construction of 4 pedestrian foot bridges at selected locations within Freetown municipality costing $2,769,076.32.
4) Construction of market and transit transport terminal at Lumley, costing $5,712,526.05, contract to be completed in February 2022.
5) Rehabilitation of an existing structure for National Drivers Training and Traffic Control Centre for SLRSA, to be completed in February 2022, costing $123,672.06.
6) Rehabilitation of Offices at the Central Bus Station for the setting up of the Urban Transport Centre for SLRTC, to be completed in February 2022, costing $123,367.52.
7) Procurement of a contractor for the regeneration of central bus station and car park for Sierra Leone Road Transport Corporation at the Central Business District.
8) Procurement of a contractor for the construction of 3 Depots and 2 terminals for Ministry of Transport and Aviation at Jui, River No. 2 and Black Hall Road.
9) Procurement of a contractor for construction of Bus Stops for East and West Corridors for Public Transport Buses.
10) Procurement of a Contractor for construction of Computer Lab Space including furniture for 100 person capacity for Fourth Bay College (FBC).
11) Construction of Car Park and Related Ancillary Activity at the Urban Transport Centre for Central Bus Station.
12) Construction of Reinforced Concrete Columns for SLRTC at River No. 2 depot site.
13) Procurement of Construction Works for Spot Improvement for alternative route for Poda- Poda operators.
14) Procurement of construction works to improve restore and related facility at central bus station at Wallace Johnson Street.
15) Procurement of construction works to construct columns at Approved School.
16) Procurement of construction works for installation of street light at Sani Abacha Street.
17) Construction of depot and terminal at Jui.
18) Rehabilitation of Blackhall Road Depot with Equipment.
19) Construction of Perimeter Fence at Jui Depot and Terminal.
20) Procurement of contractor for installing Road Markings and Signages on the IRUMP Corridor .
GOODS:
Under the Goods bucket in the comprehensive procurement plan, the following deliverables are provided for:
1 ) Procurement of Fifty (50) Public Transport Buses for Ministry of Transport and Aviation, costing $7,497,000.00.
2) Purchases of IT Equipment, Furniture.
3) Purchase of Equipment to support Traffic Management and Enforcement.
4) Procurement of 2 Double Cab and 4 Station Wagon.
5) Procurement of Trailer/Crawler Mountable Standards Penetration Test (SPT)/Cone Penetration Test (CPT) Machine for sub soil and geotechnical investigation for SLRA.
6) Procurement of Thirty (30) Patrol Motor Bikes, (20 for Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority 10 for Sierra Leone Police ) and One (1) Dispatch Motor Bike for Ministry of Transport & Aviation.
7) Procurement of 220 Billboards for Bus Stops and Project Visibility.
8) Procurement of Two (2) Tow Trucks for SL Police and Four (4) Road Safety Patrol Cars for SLRSA.
9) Procurement of Environmental Monitoring Equipment for MTA.
10) Procurement of Generator Set; Laptop Computers; Office Equipment; Stationery and Office Supplies for Project Implementation Unit (PIU).
11) Procurement of 25 Computers, projectors and accessories for FBC.
12) Procurement of Office Equipment for Urban Transport Centre for SLRTC.
13) Procurement of Four (4) Tow Trucks and Four (4) Road Traffic Patrol Vehicles.
14) Procurement of Two (2) Vehicles for Sierra Leone Public Transport Authority.
15) Procurement of Traffic Monitoring Equipment for Traffic Control Center for SLRSA.
CONSULTANTS:
As regards fees and funding earmarked and paid for consultant services, for the 30 line item deliverables for individual consultants and 15 line items under consulting firms, the total sum of $2,756,698.80 (2 Million Seven hundred and fifty six thousand six hundred ninety eight dollars) has been expended for the mobility project.
CANCELLATIONS:
A worrying trend noticed in the current project Procurement Plan is that of cancellations written against several of the prior approved works and goods projected deliverables. The World Bank Sierra Leone Office Procurement Officer together with officials of the executing Ministry of Finance and Economic Development need to provide better transparency as to why these line item deliverables have been cancelled. Is it due to unavailability of funds or diversion of previously approved funds ?
