GNN-Liberia, a prominent media outlet, has endeavored to bring out the untold story of the National Road Fund of Liberia (NRF). In its quest to independently divulge to the public some of the institution’s successes, the GNN-Liberia took up time to adequately inform the public of the nationalistic role the National Road Fund (NRF) continues to play, in the midst of numerous challenges.
GNN Liberia gathered that the success of this Liberian initiative, the National Road Fund, has been made possible through the supporting arms of the Liberian Chief Executive, President George M. Weah, backed by the involvement of the international donor community.
Such institution, which has attracted the interest of this writer due to the level of its professional services by a team of professionals, headed by one of Liberia’s most effective administrators, Boniface D. Satu as Chief Executive Officer, has gained its reputation in doing the Liberian people job through the National Road Fun (NRF), and its committed services towards improving the country’s deplorable road network has anxiously called this writer’s attention to publicly give rise for this publication.
Also gathered by this outlet is that members of the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee of the Road Fund, including the Ministers of Public Works, Finance and Development Planning, Transport, Internal Affairs and Commerce, did all they could for the success of the NRF.
The team is extremely doing well in the growth of the NRF, established by an Act of the National Legislature in 2016 with the purpose of financing road and bridge maintenance works around the country.
The Management team at NRF, according to information gathered, has over the years demonstrated a high level of professionalism and independence in the discharge of its responsibility as required by the Act that created it without hindrance; as a result of this, donors, including the African Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB), GIZ, as well as Liberia, have built explicit confidence in the entire leadership of NRF.
According to GNN statics, due to the committed and nationalistic services of the team at this institution, the National Road Fund (NRF) has generated over US$95,104,006.49 via Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) fuel levies collections and transferred same to the consolidated accounts as of March 31, 2022. In 2018/2019, the NRF raised US$25,947,820.00, while in 2019/2020 the amount of US$27,071,052.00 was raised by the entity.
Implementation/payments done directly by the National Road Fund (NRF) as of June 17, 2022 included 47 Kilometer Sehyikimpa to Loguiatuo Road Corridor in Nimba County US$1,035,969,93 paid; 45 Kilometer ELWA Junction to RIA in Montserrado and Margibi counties, US$988,764,50 paid; 20 Kilometer Fish Town to Kelipo in River Gee County, US$214,194,43 paid; and 31 Kilometer Ganta to Saclepea, US$3,000,00.00 paid.
According to the National Road Fund of Liberia’s Fiscal Year 2020/21 Comprehensive Annual Report, in the possession of GNN-Liberia, during the year under review the largest portion of this total was expended on capital expenses (general works, loan repayment and withheld taxes from last fiscal year), according to the NRF document in the possession of this outlet.
The total revenue raised by the NRF, from which the above expenditure was made, is US$29,585,968.26, and the largest revenue for the reporting period was fuel levy. About US$24,107,746.18 was generated from fuel levy, according to NRF documents in the possession of this outlet.
The NRF’s total opening bank balances at the start of this fiscal year was US$5,540,088.00 and the total closing bank balances for the period under review was US#3,675,876.26. According to the report, during the period under review, 80.5.km of road rehabilitation projects, 1,090.7km of road maintenance projects, 276.5km of emergency road repairs works, 4 bridge maintenance projects and several other support activities were funded by the NRF.
According to the report, most of these works were brought forward from the previous fiscal year, and will run into the next fiscal year, as only a few were completed. The report further indicated that most of the completed works were “emergency”. The NRF had a total contract portfolio of 92 contracts at the end of the period under review. Of this number, the NRF document noted that 42 new contracts were forwarded to the NRF, and 50 were contracts that were brought forward from the previous fiscal year.
Of the NRF total contracts portfolio (92 contracts), 19 were completed during the report period, while the balance 73 were rolled over into the next fiscal year, noting that most of these works were funded by the National Road Fund (NRF).
According to the NRF document, the fiscal year 2020/21, Annual Road Maintenance Expenditure Program (ARMEP) was completed by the TWG-IMSC and subsequently reviewed and approved by the IMSC in July of 2021. The document further states that the ARMEP was later recast to reflect allotments and activities in the 2020/21 fiscal year National Budget. The ARMEP recast activities lasted were completed in January to February of 2021.
The total Budgeted expenditure in the ARMEP amounted to US$37,950.088.00, and the highest budgeted revenue line was General Road Works, which according to the report had a total of US$16,880,836.68 (representing 44.48%). The second largest is SECRAMP, with the total of US$10,000,000.00 (representing 26.35%). The two least budgeted expenditure lines were Ministry of Public Works (MPW) Allotment, with an amount of US$569,251.32 (representing 1.50%).
The total actual expenditure in the ARMEP amounted to US$28,362,773,56. About 54.04% of this amount, which amounted to US$15,319,196.79, was expended under General Works. The second highest expended line was SECRAMP, with a total of US$8,666,064.70 (representing 30.18% of the total expended). According to the NRF document, the general performance of the ARMEP expenditure section was 74.74%.
In order to capture the level of works being done by the National Road Find (NRF), several projects were financed and done expeditiously by companies who applied for them, which include a 2.1 Kilometer Cleaning in Monrovia and its environs, done by Amazing Group of Companies; construction of 0.3 Kilometers road in Joe Bar Market in Montserrado County, done by Quality Group of Construction and Companies; Emergency Maintenance of 42 Kilometers of gravel pavement on the Barziwien – Vionjama Riad Corridor in Lofa County, done by SSF Entrepreneur Incorporated; and 18.57 Kilometers Emergency Drainage Cleaning and Maintenance in Monrovia and its environs, done by Global Tech International.
The brain behind the success story of the National Road Fund of Liberia is those hardworking and professional staffs of the entity and the most workaholic Chief Executive Officer, Boniface D. Satu, MBA/MSC/B.Sc/BSA/BBA/AA.