CHINA-SIERRA LEONE: CHINA'S BRI $ 400 MILLION AIRPORT PROJECT CANCELLED
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One month after attending the China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, who took office in April, has cancelled a loan agreement signed by his predecessor for China to build a new $400 million international airport at Mamamah on the ground that the project is “uneconomical” given that the only existing international airport is “grossly under-utilized.” The new airport was supposed to be completed by 2022. The government intends to build a bridge linking the capital Freetown to Lungi, where its only international airport is located. Sierra Leone’s decision to cancel the project tails earlier warnings by the World Bank that the airport loan would increase its debt burden.
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