MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND AVIATION

Republic of Sierra Leone

FREETOWN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PROJECT- MAMAMAH

1.0: PROJECT BACKGROUND (NATURE OF THE PROJECT)

  • PROJECT TITLE: FREETOWN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PROJECT (MAMAMAH)
  • PROJECT LOCATION: SONGO-MAMAMAH axis, KOYA CHIEFDOM, PORT LOKO DISTRICT
  • BENEFITS TO THE COUNTRY: The construction of the new Freetown International Airport is one of Government’s flagship projects designed to enhance the country’s competitiveness, improve the investment climate and boost economic activities. The airport is expected to address, among other, the current difficulties in moving across the river from Lungi International Airport to Freetown and hence ensure unhindered access to Sierra Leone.

 

The new Airport will help enhance our regional and international transportation competitiveness, increasing airline operations, passenger through put and cargo operational volumes, and subsequently help boost the investment climate and transform economic activities exponentially.  It is also envisioned by the Government that a new Airport/Commercial city i.e. a commercial/Economic enclave which will be developed around the new Airport with other ancillary social amenities and facilities to further mobilize huge commercial activities that will further enhance the generation of non-Aeronautical revenues and optimize the effectiveness of the airport operations generally.

PROJECTED COST OF THE PROJECT

  • The estimated cost of the project: Three Hundred and twelve Million United States Dollars (USD 312) or  CYN 1,934,963,160
  • Phase One being : Two Hundred Million United States Dollars (USD 200)

         PROJECT TIME FRAME

         The project shall be completed within four years after the start date with the first     year of this said project period being the design period. The project was expected to have commenced in 2015 but for the delays, the project has now      experienced.

 

SCOPE OF WORKS

         This is an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract. The       scope          of the Project under this Contract shall include the following items:

(a)   Airfield category: 4E.

(b)   Runway: 3,500 meters;

(c)    Apron -5Es and 1D

(d)   Presidential VIP terminal: 580-1500 square meters;

(e)   Terminal buildings: 9,800 square meters;

(f)     Office, staff support facilities (including administration building of the airport: 4,500 square meters);

(g)   Freight area: 1,500 square meters (including freight storage, freight equipment, room for the freight business, freight parking area);

(h)   Category ll Navigational Aids

(i)     Fire protection and rescue (fire protection grade eight).

(j)     Power, water, oil supply and rain, sewage disposal

(k)    Indispensible special vehicles & business vehicles.

(l)     General layout plan.

(m)  Two taxi ways

 

         PROJECT MANAGEMENT

         A Project implementation Unit (PIU) was set up to coordinate the implementation process under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport and       Aviation.

  

2.0: PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS TO DATE

  1. Financing /Loan status of the Loan from EXIM Bank-  EXIM Bank has approved the Loan of USD200 million for Phase one and the  Bilateral Frame work Agreement between GoSL and Chinese government  was signed in 2015. However the signing of the Loan agreement between GoSL and the China EXIM Bank was halted due to IMF/WB strong concerns based on the country's debt sustainability/debt stress analysis. MOFED has submitted alternative financing arrangements for the consideration of GoSL and the Chinese Government.
  1. Commercial Contract: In April 2014, a New Draft Commercial Contract  was  signed between the Ministry of Transport and Aviation on behalf of GOSL and the China Railway Int. group (Contractors) for phase one and witnessed by the  Attorney General and the Minister of Finance and Economic Development.
  1. Supplementary Commercial contract was signed between Ministry of Transport and Aviation (MTA) and China Railway International (CRI) on 26th January 2015 in respond to few amendments in the original commercial contract.
  1. Supervisory Service Agreement was signed between Ministry of Transport and Aviation (MTA) and Chinese Consultant, China Friendship Development International (FDDC) on 27th July 2015 for the FDDC to provide Engineering and Technical advisory services on the project implementation. 
  1. Survey of Airport Development Zone: The Survey exercise of the Land area designated for the construction of the Airport and other ancillary facilities, (Airport Development Zone) Spanning between Songo Junction and Mamamah was completed with the Beacons and Concrete Poles erected to demarcate the area estimated to be over 25,000 acres and plan signed by the Ministry of Lands Consultant: The recruitment of a Consultant for the services of Counterpart Engineering Supervision for the project through an international competitive procurement process has been completed and documents have been sent to MoFED for payment approval since October 2015.  We are awaiting MoFED approval prior to the award of contract to the most responsive bidder.
  1. Relocation of Communities affected by the Airport construction: The procurement for contractors for the construction of the first 100 houses to relocate seven communities affected immediately by the construction of the airport has been concluded.  Six companies have been identified as the most responsive bidders.   All the relevant documentations have been sent to MOFED for review and approval prior to award of contract. It should be noted that over 32 communities with over 1000 households which are directly affected will have to be relocated in 3 designated new communities. These three new communities have been identified and agreed upon by PC Bai Kompo Bomboli ll of Koya Chiefdom, key chiefdom stakeholders, the Host communities and the Communities that will be relocated
  2. Utilities for New Communities:  The Ministry of Energy submitted  details of  Material  and cost for the provision of   Solar Energy to power the  Light bulbs for the House units as a short term solution while  full details of the long term 

Included engineering drawings for key facilities like the Terminal buildings, Administrative zones, Runway etc. The Project Sub-Technical Committee meet with the contractor's/Architects for a review of the plans and comments and recommendations have been submitted to the contractors for further amendments.  The Final General design and engineering drawings are still to be submitted by the contractors. Work has been put on hold due to the current state of the project as preliminary work on project so far is being pre-financed by the contractors. 

 

  1. Economic Viability Study of the Airport Project; ERNST and YOUNG (EY) in partnership with Bertin and Bertin (Local Consultant firm) were contracted to conduct the Economic Viability Study and final report has been submitted to relevant stakeholders including MOFED, IMF, World Bank etc

 

  1. Land owners and Compensation:  Registration of Land Right Owners in over sixty communities within the Airport affected areas has been completed.  A detailed Relocation Action Plan (RAP) will be done after the comprehensive survey of all landed property within the affected areas is completed. The mode of compensation and the value of the said land l are yet to be finalized.

 

 

Community meeting at Maboima Village

 

  1. Status of work on site: by October 2015 the contractors had over 20 Technical staff (mainly Chinese) on site and other 30 support staff. By the end of Dec 2015 when it became apparent that there were issues with the signing of the Loan, the contractors withdrew most of the Chinese technical staff and support staff on site.   Currently work has been halted permanently. However Heavy machinery, Construction trucks and other earth moving equipments are still on site.

   

Technical Committee on site discussion                  

  Area Cleared for Runway

   

Area Cleared for Terminal Building    Project Camp Site Maboima

  1. Commissioning of the Project by H.E. The President: A select committee on the planning has made good progress.  However, all commissioning planning activities have been put on hold until further directives are given.

 

  1. Various Community Engagements:

 

 

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FOR THE FIAP AT MAMAMAH 

 

THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND AVIATION, DIRECTOR OF FIAP AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS 

VISIT TO THE PROPOSED SITE FOR THE FREETOWN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AT MAMAMAH (FIAP)

 

3.0: FINANCING OPTIONS

  • The estimated cost of the project: Three Hundred and twelve Million United States Dollars (USD 312) or  CYN 1,934,963,160
  • The cost of the project is intended to be funded by a concessional loan from the China EXIM Bank and is divided into two phases.
  • Full Grant from the Government of China -  This can be achieved under the Economic Cooperation Agreement as opposed to a Development loan Agreement and should be treated as an Official Development Assistance as it qualifies under ‘the promotion of economic development and welfare” as the main objective
  • Partial Grant – This will require a grant of US$ 212 million and concessional loan of US$ 100 million, giving rise to the total project costs of US$ 312 million. The rationale behind this approach is the fact that IMF has capped the Country’s debt ceiling at a nominal value of US$100 million. The Chinese government will provide the concessional loan under the Chinese preferential facilities framework.
    • Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) - The Chinese private partner or any Equity capital owner or venture capitalist builds the airport facility to the specifications agreed to by the Government, operates the facility for a specified time period under a contract or franchise agreement with GoSL or its agency, and then transfers the facility to the GoSL/agency at the end of the specified period of time
    • PPP Options - One of the most common and often most efficient financing arrangements for PPP projects is “project financing”, also known as “limited recourse” or “non-recourse” financing. This normally takes the form of limited recourse lending to a specially created project vehicle (special purpose vehicle or “SPV”), which has the right to carry out the construction and operation of the project. The SPV will be dependent on revenue streams from the contractual arrangements and/or from tariffs from end users, which will only commence once construction of the Airport has been completed and the project is in operation.

 

 

 

4.0: CHALLENGES

(a) The delay in the signing of the Loan Agreement has eventually delayed the start date of the project.  Project was expected to have started early 2015.

(b) The relocation of the villages immediately affected by the airport is a critical precursor to the start of construction of the airport facility.  Therefore, further delays in the start and completion of the houses will affect the timing of the relocation adversely.

©  Over 8 villages affected by the bush clearing of the runway area cannot resume their farm activities for the current planting season which means their livelihoods have been severely affected.      

5.0: THE WAY FORWARD

(a) A comprehensive Project appraisal needs to be done in order for government to take a definitive position on how it moves forward with this project, cognizant that the Contractors have already done  sizable volumes Pre-Construction activities and pre-financed by the same

(b) MoFED to approve and allocate funding immediately to finalize the recruitment process for the Counterpart Engineering Consultant and for the construction of the first 100 houses in the new communities. These are very critical path pre-Construction activities without which the Construction phase cannot commence if even we eventually secure a financial closure for phase one of the project.