The Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO) has released its five-year Strategic Development Plan (SDP) for 2026-2030, which outlines a focused roadmap for improving service delivery, institutional resilience, and financial sustainability across the country. The official unveiling took place at the Miatta Conference Hall in the Youyi Building in Freetown and was attended by senior government officials, representatives from ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), development partners, civil society activists, and international organisations.
Mr Alieu Bakarr Conteh, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, presided over the ceremony and publicly praised SALWACO for preparing the SDP internally rather than using external consultants. Mr Conteh’s remarks emphasised the ministry’s approval of the in-house approach and expressed confidence in the utility’s internal ability to chart its strategic direction.
Dr Albert Harrison Harvey, Deputy Managing Director, welcomed attendees and described the SDP as a critical guiding framework for SALWACO’s operations and priorities through 2030. Dr Harvey stated that the launch is intended to raise the company’s profile among stakeholders while also clearly communicating SALWACO’s priorities and planned interventions for the next five years.
Mr. Joseph Joe Ndanema, Chairman of SALWACO’s Board of Directors, emphasized the importance of the SDP providing tangible and measurable outcomes for communities. Mr Ndanema stated that the board had given preliminary approval to the plan and emphasised its alignment with broader national development goals, reiterating SALWACO’s core mandate of providing safe water and sanitation services throughout Sierra Leone.
The SDP was formally presented by Managing Director Ing. Tiideni Hawa Jabbi, who emphasised that the plan provides coherent strategic direction in line with sectoral, national, and international development agendas. According to Ing. Jabbi, the plan is intended to advance SALWACO’s contribution to the Government of Sierra Leone’s development goals and to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 6, which aims for universal access to water and sanitation by 2030.
The SDP, according to the Managing Director, is linked to the Government’s Medium-Term National Development Plan (2024-2030), the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation’s Strategic Direction (2026-2035), and other global instruments. She identified five priority areas to guide the plan: water and sanitation development initiatives, sustainable service delivery, commercialization and financial viability, SALWACO facility protection and management, and capacity development and knowledge management. These pillars aim to reposition SALWACO as a resilient, efficient, and results-driven institution capable of meeting the country’s growing water and sanitation demands.
Ing. Jabbi emphasised that the SDP was created internally by a team of SALWACO employees over six weeks, a process she cited as evidence of the company’s technical competency and institutional ownership of its strategic direction.
Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Ing. Francis Kallon, delivered the keynote address, describing the water sector as critical to Sierra Leone’s economic and social development. He praised SALWACO for developing a strategic roadmap to help the Ministry and government accelerate progress toward SDG 6, particularly in provincial districts and urban centres outside the capital. Ing. Kallon described the SDP launch as both a strategic milestone and the beginning of a transformative phase for the nation’s water sector, reaffirming the government’s commitment under President Julius Maada Bio to expanding sustainable water supply and sanitation services nationwide.
The Deputy Minister stated that the SDP includes five strategic program objectives aimed at establishing SALWACO as a functional and financially viable utility capable of providing improved services. He then declared the Strategic Development Plan (2026-2030) officially operational.
The event ended with a vote of thanks from SALWACO’s Planning Manager, Chrisla Alberta Koroma, and a group photo of the participants. Organisers stated that the next steps will prioritise stakeholder engagement, resource mobilisation, implementation of the plan’s priority interventions, and the establishment of monitoring and evaluation arrangements to ensure that the SDP’s objectives are translated into visible improvements in water and sanitation access for Sierra Leone communities.
