The difficulty in accessing transportation to different destinations in the capital, Freetown has become so frightening and worrisome for workers and business people, that the government through the ministry of Transport and Aviation needs to take urgent and proactive action to ensuring that the struggle for transportation within the precinct of the capital city is nip on the bud.
Of course, it is a realism that there are a lot of challenges attributed to the problems of transportation in Freetown, ranging from public transport adequacy, traffic congestion, parking difficulties to mention but a few, thus government should ensure that these challenges are gradually arrested so as to help solve the problem of transportation in the capital city which to us in the covenant Newspaper is very important for the economic development of the nation as it enables communication, trade, and other forms of exchange between people, that in turn establishes civilization.
We are also of the view that an effective and efficient productivity in Freetown is highly dependent on the efficiency of its transport system to move labour, customers and freight between multi origins and destinations because the city comprises high level of accumulation and concentration of economic activities thus, it has greater complexity and the potential for disruption when it is not effectively manage.
The Covenant Newspaper recommends that government embarks on the development of additional road capacity so as to ease traffic congestion because roads constructed during the colonial era could no longer accommodate the vehicles and population of the modern city.
Owing to the fact that the major roads leading to the central business areas could no longer accommodate the influx of private and commercial vehicles, we in the covenant Newspaper encourages the government of president Maada Bio to focus on the completion of the Hill bye-pass road stretching from Dwazark farm to up gun junction for we are of the strong conviction that if completed will definitely enhance the smooth flow of traffic to and from the center business areas of Freetown and by so doing government and other private workers who are constantly stock in traffic will be given the opportunity to arrive their offices on the stipulated time which has the advantage of earning workers time to do their work effectively without duress.
We also call on the government of president Bio to ensure that strident and effective traffic management measures are put in place so that defaulters suffer the full wrath of the law. The issues of orders from above and other political influences must be relegated to the annals of traffic history. Traffic police officers who are found wanting of the law must be treated according to the dictates of the law. Similarly, drivers who fail to respect the rules and regulations binding the traffic rules must be disciplined in accordance with traffic rules.
Furthermore we in the covenant Newspaper are of the understanding that one of the reasons for a congested traffic in extension the problem of transportation is failure by traffic officers to properly enforce the act of parking restrictions. What makes the situation more horrendous is the fact that the council has not provided packing spaces in a capital city that has a million or more vehicles, therefore many drivers will pack their vehicles in the wrong position which subsequently will lead to traffic congestion that will to an extent create tension in one accessing transportation to one’s destination.
However the covenant Newspaper is also imploring the SLPP government to provide more public buses in order to promote public transportation which we are confident will help in salvaging the problem of transportation in the city of Freetown, for the current bottleneck of transportation is growing unabated.
