The Government of Liberia (GOL), through the National Road Fund (NRF), in collaboration with the African Road Maintenance Funds Association, is hosting over 400 delegates from 35 countries for the 22nd Annual Meeting Of African Road Maintenance Funds Association in Monrovia.
The conference, which takes place November 17—21, 2025 at the EJS Ministerial Complex, Congo Town, is expected to be an interactive engagement among delegates, ARMFA leadership, the National Legislature and the Executive branches of the Liberian government, in order to broaden the understanding of the workings of road fund bodies.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, NRF Director General, Joseta Neufville Wento, expressed strong optimism that, at the end of the event Liberia will transition from the first-generation road fund management to second generation, focusing on giving the NRF an autonomous status to collect and manage its funds, among others.
According to her, the first generation of road fund is only seen in Liberia among 35 African countries of ARMFA, and highlighted the challenges the structure pose to achieving an independent status of the NRF.
“We have the donors, the World Bank, the European Union and the African Development Bank who are supporting us in this activity. ARMFA is an association comprising of 35 member states and collects road maintenance funds from each country. As we know, the road maintenance fund is a national body or a state body that takes care of the road infrastructures,” Wento stated.
According to her, the first generation is a road fund set with government-controlled administrative and financial system. She noted that Liberia has a statutory board by law, and the board is made up of cabinet members. However, she said, the second generation or autonomous road fund is a mixed of government representatives, civil society and technical professionals, lawyers and CEOs who oversee the operations and make decisions of the road fund.
“So the mission is to promote the good governance in the association, the sharing among the different funds for road maintenance, and also promote the public and private partnership in this. Most importantly, it is to promote the autonomous aspect of any fund for road maintenance. So today the funds help to transition from the first generation to the second generation, and from the third generation to the fourth generation,” the NRF boss observed.
Over the few days that the delegates and the members of ARMFA are going to be here, it is expected that there will be some infusion of foreign currency. It is expected as well that businesses will have some returns because of the logistics that is required to host and coordinate these events. But more importantly, it is an opportunity for the young engineers of Liberia to sit under the senior professionals with diverse background in the road sector and learn.
At the same time, the President of the African Road Maintenance Funds Association, Essaie Moussa Aubin, said the event is a historical event; as such, Liberia will benefit from it a lot. He thanked all the authorities in Liberia, first of all the President of the Republic, for accepting and authorizing them to have the General Assembly of the Association in Liberia.
