By- Aruna Rashed Toma Bangura
The Director General of the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Airport Transitional Team (CATT), Moses Tiffa Baio has told newsmen at the Ministry of Information and Communication weekly press briefing, past Thursday 26th January, 2023 that the Mammah Airport project by the past regime was just a dream.
He disclosed that the new Freetown International Airport project cost $270,000,000 (Two hundred and Seventy million dollars) with an ultramodern infrastructure by an international Turkish company known as Summah International.
Moses Tiffa Baio said government cancelled the Mammah Airport project because it was not part of the development agenda of Sierra Leone.
According to the SLCAA Boss, the actual airport site was not in Mammah but at a village 7 miles off Mammah, adding that Mammah Airport could not have been an ultra-modern airport because it would have cost the government to build a new city and the future generation inherits debt.
The Chairman for Airport Transitional Team (CATT) Moses Tiffa Baio disclosed that it was the right decision of government to terminate the Mammah airfield contract, adding that they did not rehabilitate the Airport at Lungi but built a new one which he said is a public private partnership investment between the government and Summah international with 100% funding by the latter.
He furthered that Summah International will manned the operation of the Freetown International Airport for a concessional period of 25 years and will construct a 5 Star hotel with a state of the art conference centre, adding that Summah International has plans to turn Lungi community into a city.
In his presentation, the General Manager of the Sierra Leone Airport Authority (SLAA) Jack Massaquoi said everything at the airport is brand new but the name of the airport still remains the same with a new control tower having a diamond shape.