Construction on the Ganta–Yekepa stretch has improved significantly, years after ArcelorMittal committed $40 million to connect the key mining town of Yekepa with the rest of the country.
With pavement now in Sanniquellie, the government is said to be placing emphasis on redesigning Sanniquellie and giving it an outlook truly deserving of its historic status.
The Ministry of Public Works is heading the Sanniquellie Beautification Project, which is supervised by Minister Coker-Collins
Details of the beautification project are yet to be made public, but last weekend Public Works Minister, Ruth Collins Coker, visited the city and later held talks with ArcelorMittal officials for the second phase.
Situated in Sanniquellie-Mahn District, Sanniquellie remains a place of historic site seeing after three presidents of Liberia, Guinea and Ghana met there and started talks that led to the establishment of the Organization of Africa Unity, which later became the African Union.
Three palava houses built for the three presidents during those talks lie in ruins, but a memorial regarding this event still stands in Yekepa.
With ArcelorMittal’s $40 million commitment, and the road from Ganta to Yekepa a near reality, Sanniquellie, a key transit point between the mining town of Yekepa and the commercial hub of Ganta, will once more come live.
The significance of this project because of the generous contribution of ArcelorMittal to the people of Liberia outside of its concessional commitments cannot be overemphasized for fact that this will be the first time that paved road will reach the iron-ore-rich northern Nimba reserve.
Recounting this remarkable ArcelorMittal feat in a recent public comment in Grand Bassa was former Information Minister, Dr. Larry K. Bropleh.
Dr. Bropleh, who is President George Weah’s “Special Envoy and Advisor”, detailed how Mittal’s founder and owner came to Liberia during the Sirleaf era and committed to building the Ganta-Yekepa Highway.
Dr. Bropleh said, “At the time when I was the Minister of Information, together we sat in the cabinet room with then President Sirleaf.
“At the end of our conversation, he said, ‘Madam, you have mentioned everything else. Is there anything else you want me to do?’”
Dr. Bropleh disclosed that this was when former President Sirleaf said, “Pave the road from Yekapa to Ganta.”
“Today that road, with the continuous involvement of our current President George Manneh Weah—that road is a near reality.
“Again, we want to say thank you for your development initiatives. We all are aware of how roads make a crucial contribution to economic development and growth and bring important social benefits.
But the AML Ganta-Yekepa Road will for years remain of vital importance to spur growth and development, and as well provide access to employment, social, health and education services in one of Liberia’s most populated counties.