PHOTO: Pres. George Weah
Monrovia, Liberia – The President of the Republic, H.E. Dr. George Manneh Weah, has issued Executive Order #111, exempting the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) from paying Customs Duty on GST Generation, transmission and distribution equipment, materials and fuel, an Executive Mansion press release has said.
The Chief Executive issued the Executive Order #111 recently in a bid to power national reconstruction and development.
President Weah indicated that the issuance of Executive Order is predicated upon the expiration of Executive Order #104 which was issued months ago, noting that there still remains the need to minimize the cost of fuel to enable LEC provide electricity to the public at a reasonable price.
The Liberian Leader acknowledged that transitioning from the use of fossil fuels to hydro power to generate electricity, LEC faces external market forces and risks that increase the costs of operations as it continues to expand its hydroelectric power generated at the Mount Coffee facility to deliver affordable electricity to customers Transitioning from the use of fossil fuels to hydro power to generate electricity.
According to the President, some of the problems LEC endures are associated with the purchase, delivery, storage and use of fossil fuels, especially Heavy Fuel Oils (HFO), represent a significant expense to the entity.
He said such expense slows investment in the transition to the wider user of hydro power in the country and that Executive Order #111 is necessary to help LEC achieve higher level of operational and financial efficiencies to enable it provide electricity at affordable rates to customers.
President Weah stressed that LEC has demonstrated needs to minimize expenses to prevent the per kilometer hour cost of electricity in Liberia from increasing and to, in contrast, actively seek their systematic and long-term decline.
According to Dr. Weah, there exist the imperative for the government of Liberia to initiate a policy which has the effect of stabilizing LEC costs, as well as giving the Corporation the ability to expand the number of connections to the National Electricity Grid.
Materials and equipment captured under Executive Order #111 include transformers, wires, light poles, electricity meters, parts and accessories, specialized and operational vehicles.