In their continued efforts in ensuring that Tourism Development Areas (TDA) nationwide are protected by preventing destructive human activities and illegal settlement expansion on the areas, officials of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs led by the Director of Tourism, Travel and Exchange Programme, Mohamed Jalloh engaged relevant stakeholders of Bathurst Community on deepening the collaborative efforts to protect the Tourism Development Area at Tacugama.
Tacugama holds the Chimpanzee Sanctuary, a water catchment and also the ongoing construction of an Innovation center supported by the Sierra Leone Economic Diversification Project (SLEDP).
Councilor, Ward C, Regent, Sorie M. Bangura emphasized that the ongoing development at Tacugama when completed will create jobs for indigenes of the community, noting that the ongoing project site is situated at an ideal green location that has no bearing on the demolition of unauthorized structures within the Tourism Development Area.
Head Man, Bathurst Community, Theophilus Johnson stated that the structures demolished by government were on the designated TDA, hence he encouraged community members to adhere to government directives and refrain from doing illegal activities in the area. He, however, reiterated that the demolition exercise was devoid of the ongoing development at Tacugama.
Director Mohamed Jalloh thanked stakeholders for their collaborative efforts in protecting the designated Tourism Development Area. He maintained that the demolition exercise was an inter-MDA effort aimed at safeguarding TDAs, and Protected Areas as stipulated in the laws of Sierra Leone.
Community stakeholders are fully supportive of the efforts by the government to maintain sanity in the TDA, while they continue to work with relevant MDAs in ensuring that the objectives of government are met.
MTCA Communications.
