Africa’s population will be urbanized by 2035, according to IsaAfrica. As population sizes grow, basic amenities become scarce.
In order to meet their population needs, governments across Africa are preparing for these changes. A $2 billion Diamniadio city was built to relieve Dakar’s population pressure. In 2013, the project was launched with a 10-year completion deadline. In the Diamniadio district, about 30 km from Dakar, you’ll find Senegal’s main airport, a conference centre, a sports arena, government ministries, universities, entertainment areas, and an express train. A new all-electric BRT system was just launched in Senegal, the first in Africa. 150 buses were purchased, each carrying 150 passengers and running for more than 250 kilometres on a charge. 20 charging stations were built.
Kenya’s smart city project, Konza, is progressing. This is a smart city with a national data centre and Wi-Fi points everywhere. There will be over 185,000 residents in the city. A number of similar projects are underway in Africa.
There hasn’t been much change in Sierra Leone. We are not developing in a sustainable way. The basic necessities of life, like uninterrupted electricity and piped water, have been hard for us to deliver. It’s estimated that half of Freetown’s population can’t get water from Guma Dam. Water had to come from alternative sources for some people. When the Guma dam was constructed in 1961, there were around 300,000 people living in Freetown. The population of the city now exceeds one million three hundred thousand. The Guma dam cannot meet the needs of the city’s population.
In other countries, when cities grow, authorities implement mitigation systems to address the needs of the growing population, but not in Sierra Leone. Despite having plentiful rainfall, half of the country’s population struggles to access clean water. The Guma story isn’t unique; many other service providers haven’t grown to meet the city’s population growth. Originally designed for 324 inmates, the Pademba prison now houses over 1,500 prisoners. For Pademba Road prison, little has changed. There are still some roads in our country that are still the same. Several streets are congested, including Abacha Street, Fourahbay Road, etc. Conakry, our next-door neighbour, is not teaching us anything. While I was in Conakry last time, I missed a few places. The growing population has led to flyover bridges being built on roads that were once two lanes.
We still have a long way to go when it comes to electricity. Although we have spent billions on a variety of electricity sources, sustainable electricity is still a dream.
The transportation problem persists. While Freetown is small compared to other cities, people have trouble getting around. Our roads are very narrow, and we don’t have enough vehicles to serve the population. It’s good to see the World Bank Government of Sierra Leone getting 50 buses under the Resilient Urban project. The country needs that. It’s also important to think about sustainability. Every government keeps purchasing buses, but after a while, they are no longer on the road. Our maintenance culture is lacking.
In the past, the APC government purchased 100 buses for 12 million dollars, but today you hardly see them on the road. APC’s then transportation minister said those buses were specially manufactured for Sierra Leone during a radio interview. He said the engineers studied our roads before manufacturing the buses. When I listened to that interview, I laughed out loud. During that time, he said their government was going to look into water transportation for Freetown, but it was just a gimmick.
What other transportation options are there in Freetown? How can we make our roads less congested? Have we thought about building a coastal road? I’ve seen some pretty coastal road plans for Freetown from a friend. Have we thought about water transportation? Freetown doesn’t need everyone to own a car; a good water transportation system will reduce road traffic. Cable cars could also be utilized by those living in hilltop communities.
There are many problems with Freetown’s planning. Outside Freetown, we had the chance to plan the construction of new communities like Waterloo, Jui, Peninsula, etc. Without a plan, people just build here and there.
Is it possible to decongest this city by developing a development plan for Lungi, which is close to Freetown, encouraging people to relocate there? In Sierra Leone, Lungi is one of my favourite places. There is a sense of calm there that I love. It will be easier for people to move there with a proper transportation system, whether a bridge or water transportation. However, we must look beyond transportation, we need a planned city as the Nigerians did with Abuja when Lagos’ population grew. There is a problem with the sustainability of our development. In solving our problems, we like the fire brigade approach. The problem is that we keep going back and forth without providing lasting solutions.
There needs to be a national development plan that transcends political parties. Government, private sector, international partners, etc., need to come to an agreement on how to resolve our problems.