Nimba County’s district #4 Representative, Ernest M Manseah, has asked the indulgence of the House to invite the Minister of Finance Development and Planning (MFDP) to provide reasons why the US$650,000 default payment cannot be made to allow the timely disbursement of US$13 million; Mercy M. Kpaingbay writes.
According to the Nimba County lawmaker, during President Ambassador Joseph Nyuama Boakai’s January 29, 2024 State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) several issues confronting the economy were brought to the attention of the public. The President revealed that the country has been placed under sanction by regional bodies such as the African Union (AU) and the African Development Bank (AFDB) due to the government inability to live up to its financial obligations with these institutions.
Representative Manseah’s communication to plenary on Tuesday indicated that President Boakai explained that due to a default payment of about US$650,000 to the European Investment Bank (EIB) the Bank is preventing the disbursement of US$13 million intended for the construction of the Sanniquellie-Loguato road.
“Honorable Speaker, Deputy Speaker and fellow colleagues, the Sanniquellie-Logartuo Road project form part of the Mano River Union-Road Development and Transport Facilitation Programme-Phase II, which affects the 20km Fish Town-Kelipo (River Gee County); and 47.1km Sanniquellie-Loquatuo (Nimba County) road segments in Liberia to the bordering town of Gbeunta in the La Cote D’Ivoire. The project is jointly funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Union, European Investment Bank and the Government of Liberia (GOL), and is expected to be completed by December 2024 at an estimated total cost of US$61.88 million. Out of this, the government is expected to contribute about US$1.34 million accounting for 2.1% of the project’s total cost.
The Nimba lawmaker’s letter further explained that government, with co-financing arrangement with ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML), awarded a similar road contract to a Senegalese firm, Sahelian Company of Enterprise (CSE), some time in 2013, and due to the delay in payment to CSE this project has lasted for the past 10 years, a contract, if all funds were paid in time, that would have lasted for less than 4 years. This situation sometimes leads to the government to paying excess amount in claims to contractors and causes unnecessary safety issues for commuters along these corridors.
“We as people of the great mountain land of Nimba appreciate the government for the many development projects in our county. I’m afraid that if the government does not give priority to this default payment to allow the EIB to disburse the US$13 million the project may encounter a similar situation like the Ganta-Yekepa road, currently under construction by the CSE,” Representative Manseah stated.
Meanwhile, the communication was forwarded to the Committee on Ways Means and Finance for investigation and reporting to plenary on next week Tuesday.