Sierra Leone News: Govt to Sign US$30m Loan Agreement with Chinese Bank

By Abu Bakarr Munu

The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) is at an advance stage of signing a US$30 million concessional loan agreement with a Chinese Export and Import Bank, a senior government official said on Thursday.

Mohamed Rado Swaray, minister of Information and communication, told a news conference in Freetown that, he is personally involved in negotiating the US$30 million loan agreement with the Chinese EXIM Bank. He said that the loan has an interest rate of 1% interest.

He explained that, the said loan will be geared towards deepening and improving the current status of the fibre optic facility to improve internet connectivity in the countryside for the benefit of all Sierra Leoneans.

The Information and Communication Minister noted that following the landing of the submarine fibre optic cable at the Atlantic, Lumley Beach site in Freetown in 2013, with a hub situated at Jui Junction in the outskirt of the Freetown municipality, it was taken to both the border towns of Gendema with Liberia and Kambia with Guinea in the east and north of the country, respectively.

Minister Swaray said that accessing this US$30 million concessional loan will enable government to extend internet facility to other districts in the country that are yet to enjoy such facility, and by so doing they will connect the fibre cable to all schools, hospitals and local councils.