Our Correspondent Emmanuel A.B. Turay writes:
A team of twenty from the San Pablo University (CEU) Madrid, Spain lead by Luis Perea including six lecturers/professors and fourteen students have arrived in Makeni city at the weekend to continue the strategic planning process for the city of Makeni.
In collaboration with UNIMAK and Makeni City Council, the San Pablo University visiting team are in Makeni to create a solid framework to formalise a planning strategy for the city of Makeni. During their last visit to Makeni in 2013 before the Ebola outbreak CEU identified key areas within the municipality and its immediate environs for proper planning as well as operational references in land use and planning in Makeni taking into consideration some of the previous steps taken during the early planning stage.
The delegation from Spain paid an official visit to the Mayor of Makeni City, Her Worship Sunkarie Kamara at her parlour at city council where she reiterated the need for proper planning of the city noting that the city is facing several challenges as a result of the growth and population. This the Mayor lamented has posed several threats to the environment including poor drainage systems, access roads, population’s dependence on fuel wood for energy, etc. some of which has resulted to the present climatic condition they are presently experiencing.
The Mayor welcomed the team from San Pablo to the city of Makeni and pledged council’s cooperation and support to the strategic urban planning process of the municipality which, based on the just concluded housing and population census, is expected to cover a seven kilometre radius. “We are looking forward to having a sustainable urban plan with your expertise and support”, she said.
The technical team from Spain had a day session with various stakeholders concerned with the sustainable planning process of the city including, Housing and country planning, regional surveyor, SLRA, Ministry of Works, Local government and the Provincial Secretary’s office. Part of their engagement was to identify the planning area, check and analyse documents provided by San Pablo University and to evaluate proposals and other territorial models received by CEU University. The Spanish team is expected to hold two more consultative meetings with various stakeholders engaged in the planning process.