Some residents of Senguelen, a farming community in Guinea, are worried about the effects of construction works in the area on their lives. The on-going construction of a port and railway facilities at the Morebayah estuary, which is few kilometers to Senguelen, has resulted in direct environmental impacts on their livelihoods.
Senguelen community members have not been mincing words on their ordeal. At a recent visit to the community to ascertain the veracity of these concerns, it came to light that several farmers who cultivate rice had their rice fields impacted by the construction of the railway.
Rice farms destroyed
A road has been constructed across a major river to serve as a platform for laying of the rails without any bridge to allow the free flow of water from upstream to the downstream of the river. This has since prevented water from reaching the rice fields and hence their destruction.
As a result, these families have not been able to farm for the past three years. According to them, Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) officials gave them a sack of rice as compensation for the destruction of the rice fields. The contractors later inserted narrow pipes under the platforms on the river to serve as passage for the river water. 
The pipes were yet to be inserted at some dug out places of the platform across the river at the time of our visit. Some amount of water now flows to the downstream, but its flow pattern has changed and has not been able to restore the productivity of the rice fields.
Contaminated water
A rice farmer, Mr. Dawuda Sila, who has been cultivating several acres of rice along the banks of the upstream of the river, complained that he has not been able to farm over the past three years due to the contaminated water which is discharged onto his farm from the construction camp. Our team observed that long pipe connected from the camp discharges wastewater onto Mr. Sila’s farm. The pipe was not flowing at the time of our visit; however, remnants of previous discharge were seen. The soil and water were observed to be oily suggesting the discharge fuel and other oil-based wastewater into his farm which ends up in the river.
Dust
Residents also complained about dust from the construction site and from the dusty roads and complained that the heavy-duty vehicles that are being used by the contractor generate a lot of dust any time they use the dusty roads. What makes the situation worse is that the vehicles mostly move in convoys, making the amount of dust generated very intense to the extent that it completely blinds other road users. Besides, the dust enters the houses close to the road. Worst still, it is practically impossible to wear white clothes in this area because of the dust. The contractors have been watering the road but due to the hot weather the water dries up quickly and the problem with the dust continues.
No compensation
Mr. Dawud Ahmed complained that portions of his farm were destroyed by the contractor to create an access road and was told that the area has been compensated for the creation of the access road. It later turned out that that was not the route where the access road was supposed to pass and therefore the clearing was discontinued. Mr. Ahmed said he had reached out to the company about the issue which resulted in the destruction of his oil palm and cashew trees but to date e is yet to be compensated for the destruction of his farm. He has followed up several times, but his effort has not yielded any result.
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