Electricity remain key to Liberia’s development

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says electricity is cardinal and important for Liberia’s growth, economic revitalization and reconstruction drive.

The president said the potential for doing business and experiencing growth is significantly tied to the availability of electricity and other sources of power, which will propel the economy and enhance production.

A dispatch from, Munich, Germany, said Presient Sirleaf made the comment when she visited the VOITH Hydro manufacturing facilities in Germany where she has gone to see firsthand the level of work being done on three Power Turbines and other parts for installation at the Mount Coffee Hydro Plant in Liberia.

President Sirlaef said the current 22 megawatts of power being used in the city and its environs with a population of about 1.3 million people, was grossly insufficient and inadequate to address the level of investments and development that the country has seen after the Liberian civil crises.

She said the Mount Coffee Hydro Power Plant with 80 megatwatts of power supply with the construction of additional mini hydro Plants for the supply of electricity in other parts of the country, will greatly impact growth and development in a major way and transform the lives of the people.

The President mentioned that in addition to the Mount Coffee Hydro Project and other mini hydro plants in rural areas, the country has made regional efforts with its neighbors in the supply of electricity through the West Africa Power Pool to now 18 communities on the borders of Liberia from the Ivory Coast and a project is being worked out with Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast for the supply of electricity from the Ivory Coast to the other Mano River Union Countries.

President Sirleaf said without major infrastructures like power, the roads and water, other development objectives like the effective running of schools, the improvement in the health sectors, the country’s agriculture program and other meaningful projects will not be successful.

She, however, emphasized the need for human resource capacity development through vocational training of Liberians at the VOITH training institute in Germany for the management of the hydro and other power sources being built across the country.

Welcoming President Sirleaf and delegation to the company’s facilities, the President and Chief Executive Officer of VOITH Holding, Dr. Hubert Lienhard pledged his company’s preparedness and determination to working with the Liberian government in making sure that the Mount Coffee Hydro Plant is up and running in an effective and sustainable way.

Dr. Lienhard said energy and power supply is an essential component for propelling growth and the most reliable and stable source for any industrial sector, adding that it is a fundamental pre-requisite for investments and improving the standard of its people. -Press Release