By George Y. Sharpe gy.sharpe@yahoo.com
Feeder roads in Liberia’s southeastern Grand Gedeh County will soon be opened or rehabilitated, with the arrival of a consignment of road construction equipment from China bought from the county development funds.
Superintendent Peter Solo disclosed that the equipment valued at US$300,000.00 arrived at the Freeport of Monrovia on Wednesday (January 10, 2018) and they will be used to pave feeder roads across the county.
He said the road building machines include a Motor Grader, a 966 Front End Loader among others.
“On January 10, 2018, we received the following machines we ordered from China, they include a Motor Grader, 966 Front Hand Loader, Compactor Vibrator, and a Mercedes Benz Dump Truck with one Ford Pick-up.” The superintendent disclosed.
The equipment are expected to be taken to Grand Gedeh shortly.
According to superintendent Solo, Acting Internal Affairs Minister Varney Sirleaf inspected the equipment upon arrival in Monrovia.
Solo said the US$300,000.00 used to purchase the equipment is part of the County’s Social Development Funds given by logging companies operating in Grand Gedeh in the year 2007.
But he said there were still outstanding amount from the County’s development fund that is yet to be received.
“As we speak, we are in talks with our caucus to engage national government to get our outstanding county development funds in the tone of 600,000USD to cater our group of young technicians who will operate and manage the equipment”, the superintendent added.
The Grand Gedeh County Superintendent also disclosed that a team of local technicians has been trained by the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) under the sponsorship of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to operate and manage the road building equipment.
He said an agent of the company which sold the equipment is in the country to service the machines after every 1,500 kilometers.
Solo said the use of the equipment to improve the roads will go a long way in easing the transport of goods and services from one district to another connecting the provincial capital, Zwedru.
“During the rainy season, most of the County can be cut off from Zwedru because of bad roads. With these machines, I can assure you that the peoples of Konobo, Gbarzon and parts of Tchien will bring their farm produce to the main market in Zwedru all year round,” Superintendent solo boasted.
Grand Gedeh County has eight administrative districts across its three electoral districts. They are Glio/Toawo, Konobo and Putu, in Konobo Statutory District, Tchien, and Cavalla in Tchien District, and Gbao, Gbo/Ploe, and B’hai in Gbarzon Statutory districts.
The superintendent has called on citizens of Grand Gedeh to embrace the latest development and give whatever support they can to improve farm-to-market roads within the County.
“These machines are meant to enable the people of the county to bring their farm produce from the villages to Zwedru, so I call on every Liberian in the county to support our efforts by embracing this development,” Solo added.
The operations of the equipment will be under the watchful eyes of the Assistant Superintendents for Fiscal Affairs and Development and under the direct mandate of the project management committee (PMC).
Skeptics of the local government will be keenly monitoring the county’s authorities to ensure that development is sustained. The securing of the equipment is one of the significant developments the remote county has seen in the last twelve years.
Movements within Grand Gedeh has always been challenging during the rainy season every year.
The arrival of the machines is expected to ease the transportation problem.
Solo said the equipment will be turned over to the people of the county for use upon arrival.