Sierra Leone News: Tourist Board Modifies Beach Cleaning Exercise

By George M.O Williams

National Tourist Board Sierra Leone (NTB) has strengthened beach cleaning exercise in over 11 beaches across the country including the Mahera Beach in Lungi, the Planning and Development Manager of NTB said on Tuesday.

Umaru Woody Woody told Premier Newspaper that NTB has strengthened contractual agreement with waste management providers and volunteers to maintain achieve beaches nationwide.

According to Woody, the NTB has engaged over hundred volunteers on contractual terms to manage and maintain the beauty of beaches across the country especially the Lumley/Aberdeen Beach.

He said that the Board has received funding from the government of Sierra Leone towards recruitment of more volunteers in the next six months to maintain not only the Lumley beaches but other coastal beaches including Mahera.

He added that there are 55 employed workers among volunteers on government payroll to maintain the beaches on a daily basis and more effectively on Monthly cleaning exercise.

He added the strengthen of the beach cleaning exercise was as a result of the influx of seaweeds and plastic waste washed ashore, covering the shiny sands in as much as it is one of the mandate of National Tourist Board is to protect the beauty of beaches across the country

“We sometimes received funding and cleaning equipment like wheelbarrow, shovel and rake from United Nations, European Union and some private sector institutions,” he said,

When asked about the generic view of the present tourism situation, he said, “We are in off season in the tourism sector, with low touristic visitation which is normal during the rainy season. However, there are few touristic visits across the country.”

Lumley/Aberdeen Beach is an iconic tourism destination that is love by all and it is the first point of tourist contact in Freetown.