The Government of Sierra Leone has compensated the landowners at Black Johnson and nearby communities.

The compensation comes as a result of the government’s legal acquisition of their lands for the Fish Harbor project.

Lawyer Yusuf Sesay said 17 people have been paid compensation and their lands were also replaced with plots across the proposed site for the Fish Harbor.

“Since 2019, when the land was surveyed we called for people to submit their documents if they have land that will be affected by this development. We received over 200 claimants, but after thorough scrutiny with the Ministry of Lands, only 21 people have legal claims to the lands,” he said.

“17 of those people have now been paid and the remaining four are going through the necessary documentation process to access their compensation,” he said.

The Black Johnson Fish Harbor project will take 252 acres of land for construction of the harbor and other complimentary infrastructure. 80 of the 152 acres were already owned by government through the Fore Shore Act which declares lands closer to the sea shore as government land.

Lawyer Sesay who is representing the Attorney General’s Office said the government has gone through every legal step over the last seven years to acquire the rest of the 172 acres of land for the project.

“I will safely say we have followed every step so far. We have involved the community, Parliament and executed the warrant to take over the land for the project,” he said.

Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Princess Dugba said she has already secured additional interest for further investment in relation to the Fish Harbor. She said companies doing quality standard laboratory work, fish canning and other investments are already lined up to invest once construction kick off, delivering hundreds of jobs.

The Fish Harbor will also bring jobs and create the chance for millions of dollars of revenue to be generated.

The $55 million dollar project is a grant from the Chinese government, which will be owned and operated by the government of Sierra Leone once it is completed.