By Foday Moriba Conteh
As part of their mandate to enhance proper housing planning in the country, the Sierra Leone Institute of Architects has on Saturday 27th March 2021, during a fact finding mission to the Susan’s Bay Community on the cause of a massive blaze of fire on Wednesday 24th March 2021 evening which destroyed properties and leaving thousands of people homeless, has recommended to the Government to enhance proper country planning.
Unveiling their findings, the President of the Sierra Leone Institute of Architects, Arc Manilius Gabber said that the cause of the fire is not unconnected to unplanned settlements and spontaneous development where people are together using whatever means necessary to house themselves, adding that in such places there is no proper building control, no proper planning of what they should build with or where they should build such places maintain that all are recipe for disaster and that is exactly what happened in the case of the Susan’s Bay disaster.
He said that from their finding some houses have power supply with no proper electrical cables and in some cases even the connections are questionable, adding that their findings also revealed that the fire was caused due to an electrical spark in one of the houses which extended to the entire community because of the unplanned situation as the houses were close together, built with bush sticks.
He said they are aware of the short term plan of giving the victims tents for temporary accommodation but said in the longtime the Government must use the opportunity to properly plan the Susan’s Bay Community by building standard houses for residents which he said will help to reduce poorly planned buildings.
He revealed that over the years the institute has played a significant role in maintaining the environment especially in the area of construction, furthering that as an institute with the requisite expertise they will be ready to work with Government for such a long lasting solution which will address issues of uncoordinated physical development and poor planning of buildings in the country.
Receiving the team on behalf of the community, the Councilor for Ward 427, Constituency 124, Madiatu Kamara expressed appreciation to the Sierra Leone Institute of Architects for their fact finding mission within the Susan’s Bay community which she said will contribute towards the proper planning of the community.
She maintained that this is not the first time such a fire disaster has taken place in the Susan’s Bay Community, adding that they have also discovered that the fire was caused due to electrical explosion in one of the houses which further extended to other houses.
She noted that the Office of National Security (ONS) and the Freetown City Council (FCC) have formed a team to look at the disaster the fire has caused and are planning the way forward.
She encouraged them to work with the Office of National Security (ONS) and the Freetown City Council (FCC) in order for them to put heads together towards supporting her community for a long lasting solution.
i believe this disaster was pedictable already a long time before it happened. and not only the scared people of the susan bay community are living under this terrible conditions. there are thousands in the
freetown area. what üp to now the government, the town-planning office, the institute of architects have really done? only dreaming of the lungi bridge project?