By Sulaiman Jalloh

Sierra Leone has in recent times witnessed some frequent collapse of buildings especially within the Capital, Freetown and many of the unfortunate occurrences are believed to have been caused by sub-standard materials been used for the construction or erection of structures. Since the beginning of this year’s rainy season, there has been continuous report of buildings collapsing; the recent and maybe most awful being the one at shell new road, east end of Freetown that claimed the lives of at least sixteen (16) citizens as reported.

According to the National Disaster Management Agency (MDMA), at least thirty-one (31) people have lost their lives from the collapse of buildings. Could this increase before the end of this year’s rainy season or in subsequent rainy seasons in the country? This is a question many should ask! Because many people especially those in authority or those with wealth may intend to build in slum or disaster-prone areas without taking into consideration the consequences.

The director of survey at the ministry of lands said that almost all of the collapsed buildings do not have building permits from the ministry. In less than four months, more than four buildings have collapsed. It is time for the government to become proactive than reactive and like it’s been said, “prevention is better than cure.”

It is obvious that for one to construct a building, the law states that there is/are requirements to be fulfilled among which is to obtain a building permit and a structure plan to be examined by authorities, among others.

In Sierra Leone, the ministry of lands is responsible for the sale and issuance of permits to land owners; a function that should help the government to know the kind of structures that are to be constructed.

According to the professional head and director of survey at the Ministry of lands, Tamba Dawuda, less than thirty percent (30%) of structures (buildings) in Freetown are without building permits, noting some are with fake/illegal permits; something that he described as alarming. He said that such could affect revenue generation in the country.

The country’s vice president, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh during his visit to the seven-story collapsed building, promised that the government will introduce something he called ‘building code,’ but the question is how will it reduce the improper issuance of permit to land owners and or the erection of buildings to disaster prone areas?

I here submit that it is crucial to manage the issuance of building permits and land management in our country. Many are of the belief that building permit should evolve to councils and that such will reduce the burden on the ministry. The councils manage the affairs of cities and towns within Sierra Leone and so doing things rightly and aptly will be very paramount.