Bong Citizens Okay Road Project

Citizens of Jorquelleh District #2 and Kokoyah Statutory District have unanimously agreed for the rehabilitation of the Botota-Gbarnga Road by Atlantic Resources Limited.

Their consensus came after Senator Henry Willie Yallah and Representative Prince Karmue Moye held aa over two hours town hall meeting with the affected communities in Foloblai during the weekend.

The citizens in their numbers said though the road rehabilitation will destroy their structures and crops, it supersedes their personal interests.The citizens during the meeting spoke openly as they voiced out their out their displeasures and dissatisfaction over the process, but at the end came to the resolution to have the road rehabilitated.

Speaking earlier Representative Prince Karmue Moye said the 51.6 Kilometers Botota-Gbarnga Road rehabilitation is a dream comes true. He said the road which has been lying in ruins since the latter part of the 80’s will be rehabilitated to allow farmers take their produce to the market at low cost. Representative Moye said the road if rehabilitated will drastically reduce newborn death and maternal mortality.

Also speaking Senator Henry Willie Yallah appealed to the citizens of the districts to allow the rehabilitation to take place and maintained that there will be no compensation for structures that will be broken down as was agreed upon at the meeting. The Bong County Senator added that those politicizing the road rehabilitation process do not mean well for the survival of citizens in that remote part of the county.

Citizens in the region currently do not have access to health and other basic social services due to the deplorable condition of the road.Senator Yallah believes citizens of Kokoyah District voted for people because they wanted to see their road properly rehabilitate.

He stated that if the road cannot be rehabilitated at this time, it will be difficult for government to carry out such rehabilitation saying the government cannot afford to spend 2.5 million Dollars as the company is prepared to spend. Many of the citizens at the town hall meeting congratulated the two lawmakers.

Compensation for people who have structures along the road has been a serious issue in Bong County with call for authorities to retract their statement that there was no compensation for those who structures will be broken down.

Some prominent citizens including former Liberty Party District #2 Representative Candidate Suspended Attorney James Saybay argued that people who own crops should be asked to swallow the bitter pill, but not those who own houses. The road rehabilitation exercise is a joined venture with logging company Atlantic Resources Limited and the government of Liberia.

The company will provide sixty percent of the cost while government will provide forty percent of the expenses that is in the tune of 2.5 million United States Dollars. The company wants to use that route to take its logs to the put of Buchanan.