The Sierra Leone Government has solicited funding from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank to strengthen urban management, improve access to basic services and infrastructure, and enhance disaster resilience in the Western Area (Freetown and Western Rural district) and secondary cities of Sierra Leone (Makeni, Kenema, Koidu New Sembehum, Bo, Port Loko, and Bonthe).

The Project Development Objective (PDO) is: “to improve integrated urban management, service delivery, and disaster emergency management in the Western Area and secondary cities of Sierra Leone”. This will be achieved through mobilizing and utilizing financial resources and technical expertise to (a) strengthen institutions and put in place the right systems for urban planning, local revenue generation, and disaster preparedness; and (b) investing in urgent local infrastructure in selected poor areas and in large-scale metropolitan infrastructure that is crucial for sustainable development.

The project will support all eight beneficiary Local Councils and cities to implement an integrated, multi-sectoral, and comprehensive approach to spatial planning and development to address challenges confronting the country, especially in the major cities. The beneficiary cities and Local Councils will be supported to upgrade their urban planning processes, enhance their own source revenue mobilization, infrastructure upgrading, solid waste management, and disaster risk management, with the aim of healthy, well-planned, financially sustainable, and productive urban centers.

The project comprises four mutually interrelated and reinforcing components –

1. Institutional and Capacity Development in integrated Urban Management;
2. Resilient Municipal Infrastructure Investment and Urban Greening;
3. Emergency Management Institutional and Capacity Development; and
4. Project management.