By Sallieu S. Kanu
On Thursday, December 5, 2024, Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr met with a World Bank delegation headed by Franz Drees-Gross, West Africa Regional Director for Infrastructure, according to the communications unit of the Freetown City Council.
The delegation, which included Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist Francis Samson Nkoka and PIU Lead Anthony Koroma, visited the Moyiba community, an informal settlement in the east of Freetown, and the Tower Hill, Guma Compound tree-planting catchment area, where 1,000 trees were planted with World Bank support.
The Bank, through its Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project (RUSLP, supports FCC through many development initiatives including the tree planting project- #FreetownTheTreeTown, and the upgrade of three Informal Settlements including Moyiba Community in the east of Freetown. FCC’s priorities for Moyiba focus on enhancing health facilities, improving local road access, upgrading water supply and sanitation, addressing waste management challenges, and mitigating climate change risks.
Under the RUSLP initiative, FCC will reconstruct 2.61 km of roads, 155 meters of walkways, 165 meters of steps in steep areas, and 36 meters of footbridges to improve access to healthcare facilities, schools, and markets. Additionally, 180 streetlights will be installed to enhance safety and boost economic activities. To address erosion and improve sanitation, 4,211 meters of drains will be constructed. FCC will also provide water supply to 19 water points including 9 hand-dug wells, and 8 borwells with water points. FCC will also construct 22 toilet facilities in the community.
In a meeting with the delegation, Mayor Aki-Sawyerr appreciated the Bank’s supplier to FCC and also briefed Franz Drees-Gross and his team on FCC’s ongoing development initiatives that are aligned with the Transform Freetown-Transforming Lives plan. Key highlights of the discussions included the FCC’s new waste management strategy, which will require households to pay for waste collection services provided by the FCC through private service providers and the Freetown Cable Car Project.