September 27, 2021
By: Francis F. M. Harding
The chairman of the Bonthe District Council, Moses Jude Problyn has revealed the development plans for the Bonthe District. When talking to Imperi Radio Rutile FM 93.3 he said that the Sierra Leone Roads Authority has compensated the sum of six billion Leones to land owners from Bo-Matru Jong.
He continued that this is one of the manifesto promises of the President that he will make the road in Bonthe district although people are impatient as prior planning prevents pressure because if you plan to fail you fail to plan.
Problyn continues that three years down the line the preparation have been going on as they were looking for funding during the APC tenure and promised to fix Bonthe District road but the agreement turns out to be cosmetic.
Moses Problyn said the President is eager to see the Mattru road come to reality as they have received funding from Islamic Bank for Development and have done the consultancy and design but COVID-19prolonged the implementation of the Contract and it only remains the public disclosure of the Environmental Health Social Impact Assessment which has been done, and they are waiting for the disbursement of funds.
The government has spent six billion Leones to pay compensation to land owners whose properties were affected. Problyn added that this compensation has been paid over the weekend as the payment was done in Bonthe District and Bo.
He said that the Mattru road is a reality not a dream because in the next two months the contract will be awarded to a contractor. He said what that means is that work will come to Mattru because the people who can operate machines can be employed and laborers.
Chairman Probyn said that they are the custodians of development and the paramount chief, local authority, councilors were in attendance to identify the people who are beneficiaries including the chairman for infrastructure, Charles Mambu.
The chairman said many people were happy as their life has changed since the day when the money was paid to the beneficiaries. Chairman Probyn said road infrastructure is a government policy given that the roads are trunk roads as it is a capital intensive project and there are three major roads in Bonthe District which is a heartbeat project of this government.
He urged people to be patient with this government as APC ruled for eleven years yet they don’t ever pay attention to them.
According to him, APC has ruled this country since independence for fourty five years and when SLPP government has come only in three years people want the President to perform magic that they were unable to do.
He said they must exercise patience with this government as the President means well for this country that is why the international community has confidence in him, whiles furthering that as he is speaking the President is at New York attending United Nations General Assembly as one of the two Africa head of States that were invited.
He dilated on the Tormabum rice project which the President has launched under the regional valued chain project for the development of rice and they are working with community people.
He noted that anything that begins newly has its own challenges as for the first year they are going to identify the challenges and for the second year they will try to handle the challenges so that it will not occur again and that is the time people will start realizing exactly what will happen along the line.
He said there is the irrigation project which is funded by the Islamic Bank with $35 million and there is another one value addition for processing as a business, to add value to sell it to the market and for this year they have to cultivate large areas in Tormabum.
He said they developed 11 Chiefdom farms for the youths and all this is going to support agriculture as this government is tired to import rice and the President is working towards the challenges to feed its people.
Mr Probyn said we are blessed to have a leader who is committed to developing the poor man in the streets.
He lauded the initiative of the current Minister of Basic education David Sengeh for saving parents billions of Leones to buy scratch card as this has become a thing of the past which the President has done to address education,
“This time with the solar panel and thermal system, Moriba town, Imperri and Mogbamor will have electricity,”Mr Probyn assured.
He said the school busses government is subsidizing their operations, but the drivers said that the money which they are paying them is too small.