It is often said that what men can do women can also do, if not better. This is the case with Ruth Coker Collins, a female Civil Engineer who has devoted her entire administration to the process of reconstructing her country and giving the nation the transformation it deserves.
Since her appointment as Public Works Minister, Collins has been doing everything she can to ensure that the mandate of resurrecting the country’s dilapidated road network and infrastructure is exercised beyond expectation.
Several road projects abandoned by past governments are back in full swing under Minister Ruth Coker Collins, fulfilling the dream of making Liberia well connected by roads, as enshrined in President George Manneh Weah’s pro-poor agenda for national salvation.
Under implementation, at the moment, are three prominent road projects, all of which require huge commitment, resources and proper management skills to complete.
The much-talked-about Gbarnga-Mendekorma, Ganta-Zwedru and Fish Town-Harper highways are among key areas of interventions, with Public Work at the fore front in ensuring that these projects continue without distraction, despite opposition propaganda.
The Hot Pepper has learned that the road projects are not only on course, but have increased the confidence reposed in the President by the people who have longed for a better and improved road condition to enhance their movement.
On the Gbarnga-Mendekorma road, where engineers are busy building covets and paving the road, residents along the route appear satisfied with the project, the first of its kind since the founding of the country.
A traditional leader told the paper in Zorzor, Lofa County, recently that the highway project will end the suffering of the people and pave the way for new opportunities in Bong and Lofa counties.
Chief Kota Kollie, who claimed to be in his seventies, said his dream for a paved road to Zorzor began when he was a child, but has not been realized until the administration of President George Manneh Weah.
Chief Kollie thanked the Weah administration for the intervention and promised to campaign massively for his re-election in October 2023 as a payback for recognizing the importance of Lofa County and Bong County to the country.
A similar show of appreciation to the President for the project is being re-echoed by residents of towns and villages along the route to Harper, where massive road pavement is in full swing.
Beside the road pavement exercise in Lofa, Bong, Grand Gedeh, River Gee and Maryland counties, Public Works is also undertaking the massive reconditioning and reconstruction of the streets of Monrovia and its environ to give them a facelift.
The latest of such projects is the road connecting the Bali Island and the Japan Freeway, which was launched in December 2022 to create access to the strategic site.
Engineers are seen directing heavy-duty equipment to help with clearing of the top soil in the first phase of the work which, when completed, will help decongest traffic and enhance the free movement of residents in the area.
A similar reconditioning process is underway on the Bomi highway, where Public Works is busy closing potholes to allow vehicles to ply the route with ease.
