Privatize electricity

Former LPRC Managing Director Harris Greaves has emphasized the need to privatize electricity supply in Liberia if Liberians must see their homes lighted. 

Mr. Greave noted that the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) lacks the capacity to provide electricity to the country. He said if private companies were given the chance to provide electricity in the country, Liberia would be quickly electrified.

The former LPRC Managing Director said the presence of GSM companies is a common example of what the supply of electricity would be if companies were allowed. According to him, competition was now in the telecommunication sector, and as a result, GSM services have become very cheap and available to almost all Liberians.

Mr. Greaves – also a citizen of Bong County, frowned at the government’s plan to construct the Mount Coffee Hydro to a 60-70 kilo watt power generating capacity. He noted that the population in Monrovia has tripled the city’s pre-conflict population, adding that Monrovia alone needs more than 100 kilowatts of electricity.

Mr. Greaves urged the government to increase the mount Coffee Hydro capacity up to 700kw. He disclosed that a group of Liberians headed by him have presented a bill to the Liberian Legislature calling for the privatization of electricity in the country.

He told students of Bong County that some members of the Legislature have embraced the idea and will soon commence deliberations on the bill. Mr. Greaves was speaking when he served as keynote speaker last weekend in Gbarnga, Bong County at the Gabriel Kpolleh Memorial lecture series which brought together students from across Bong County. –By Papa Morris from Gbarnga, Bong County-Edited by George Barpeen