Sierra Leone News: Liberia-Salone trade affected by bad road network
The Customs Officer at the Sierra Leone Zimmi Immigrations and Customs office, Alusine Vandy has lamented to Awoko of how the bad road network linking Sierra Leone to Liberia is seriously affecting international trade.
The 95 mile bad road network, he explained, has led to traders preferring taking their goods to Guinea instead of Liberia. “Traders prefer going to Guinea with their goods instead of Liberia due to the poor road network this way.”
The same, he said, was right about traders coming from Liberia with goods to Sierra Leone. This he said has even led to drop in revenue collection by the Customs office in Zimmi. “Our office here is functional but almost we collect nothing due to the fact that not many vehicles ply this road.”
The poor road network linking the south of Sierra Leone to the Mano River neighbour country of Liberia starts from Bandajuma Sowa in the Bo District where there are remnants of tarmac road to Bo. From there the situation gets worse. The road is full of bumps and holes from Bandajuma Sowa to the border town of Gendema. Vehicles get stuck in the big holes along the highway as with the example of a vehicle with number AKG 332.
An apprentice of the vehicle told Awoko that “we have been stuck in this hole for the past five days.” During periods like these, he said, “the perishable goods we are carrying get rotten.”
By Jenkins Bawoh
Wednesday January 13, 2016