June 11, 2021
A cross-section of the Sierra Leone Institute of Architects has on the 9th June, 2021 stopped at the presidency to pay a courtesy call on His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio and presented a document on how to sanitize building infrastructure in the country.
President of the institution, Architect Manulius Garger, thanked the President for agreeing to meet and discuss ways they could work together with the Ministry of Lands and Country Planning to sanitize the building construction industry in the country. He added that they had put together a Building Code to help regulate how houses are structured and constructed.
“We are partnering with the Ministry of Lands and Country Planning to help regulate the industry and put together documents that will guide the building environment in Sierra Leone,” he noted.
He further stated that the building environment in Sierra Leone was completely undernourished, compared to other countries in Africa, saying that Freetown had more than its carrying capacity and that the building environment was not planned properly to match up with modern-day cities.
“It is now time for the government to start building satellite developed towns that can meet the standards of other countries. Among us here are people with the required professional skills that this country has been missing,” he concluded.
Presenting the document, containing the Building Code, Architect John Saad, said that they had successfully introduced the School of Architecture at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, adding that the country would start utilizing home-grown architects whom he said would help properly design future constructions in the country.
Architect Saad continued by saying that the Building Code would help in the harmonization of professional practice in the building and construction industry, ensure safe, well planned, well maintained, cost-effective and decent infrastructural development, including the role of the government in regulating the constructions and planning of cities in the country.
”It will also ensure that construction works are carried out with safety rule that is best practice anywhere in the world,” concluded.
In a brief statement, President Bio thanked the Sierra Leone Institute of Architects for their time in putting together the Building Code, saying that it was better late than never. He applauded the introduction of the School of Architecture at the Fourah Bay College.
He also said that the country had one of the most disorganized cities in Africa because development had always been late. He said that as a country, Sierra Leone lacked the regulatory framework that would guide construction processes, like what to build and where to build it.
“I really want, on behalf of the state, to thank all of you for putting this together. We will do everything possible to make sure this document goes through cabinet and then to Parliament and we will work with you to introduce it into our laws,” he emphasized.