MPW alarms huge infrastructure gap

Public Works Minister Mobutu Vlah Nyenpan is alarming a huge infrastructure deficit here, saying Liberia has over the past 171 years paved just five percent of its roads.

Addressing a regular press briefing Thursday, 2 August at the Ministry of Information on Capitol Hill, Minister Nyenpan said over the past years, government has not been putting in much money for the road network. “If we continue on this path, it will take us 2000 years to pave the roads in Liberia,” Minister Nyenpan warns.

He reveals that Liberia has about 12,000 kilometers of road network, but it has less than 1,000 kilometers paved.“Road works are expensive. On the average, the indicative cost of one kilometer pavement is about one million dollars. Liberia as a country is said to be a rich country, a country of immense wealth but shows nothing for the wealth what we have,” he says.

The Public Works Minister reechoes that government needs US$3.4 billion dollars to improve the roads condition here.Having cited the huge gap in the road network here, Minister Nyenpan argues that Government made no mistake by making road key on its agenda.

He indicates that the road to development begins with the development of roads.Minister Nyenpan suggests that enormous resources will have to be infused in this sector if Liberia is to reverse the current state of affairs in the infrastructure sector.He says the country’s road network gets disconnected during rainy seasons, dividing the country due to bad road conditions.

He reminds Liberians that their country is the oldest African Country, but it cannot be compared to neighboring countries in terms of infrastructure. He notes that current administration was elected on the agenda of change, and it seeks to bring such change in the infrastructure sector so that those in the rural areas can travel freely.

He says government wants to see marketers transport their goods from farm to market, adding that all road projects that were started by previous administrations and were not completed will be completed by the current government.

By Ethel A. Tweh–Edited by Winston W. Parley