By Tokpa Tarnue– tarnue82@gmail.com
VOINJAMA, Liberia- Traveling along the Voinjama-Gbarnga road at the moment is becoming very difficult, if not impossible.
This is as a result of torrential rains have drastically degraded the Lofa County highway leaving dozens of trucks and other vehicles stranded for days.
This Reporter, who recently travelled along the road, saw several trucks and smaller vehicles in deep mud about 5 to 10 feet in some areas on the Lofa-Gbarnga highway.
“We spent about three days traveling from Gbarnga City in Bong County to Voinjama City in Lofa due to the bad road,” said truck driver Augustine Tamba.
As a result, perishable farm items such as bitter balls, pepper, egg plants, peanuts, and greens intended for Monrovia markets continue to rot.
Some of the affected farmers, who spoke to our reporter, described the situation as discouraging because they are losing their markets.
Madam Esther Kollie of Voinjama District said 25 bags that she harvested to take to Monrovia rotted while waiting to be transported.
Another farmer, Alfred Johnson said out of 30 bags of the vegetables he intended sending to Monrovia, only 15 bags reached because the rest spoiled as a result of the road condition.
With such huge loses, the farmers believe that next year’s production and harvest will certainly drop.
Business people and aid agency vehicles that continue to ply on the deplorable road are being faced with expensive mechanical repairs.
In an effort to address the current situation, Lofa County senator George Tengbeh in a telephone interview told our reporter that he has negotiated with the management of the Sig Africa logging company for some interventions.
“The company has assured me that they will be making an intervention especially along the Konia- Zorzor potion of the road that has most of the difficult spots” the Lofa senator emphasized.
According to the Liberian government, the construction of the Gbarnga-Salayea will not be halted. This was after the authorities in Bong and Lofa Counties together with the China Henan International Cooperation Group (CHICO), a Chinese state-owned construction and engineering company, and the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) agreed not to stop the project despite the spread of coronavirus in the country.
The decision was made during a meeting attended by Bong County Superintendent Esther Walker, AFL Commander in Bong County John Marshall, as well as local delegations from Lofa at CHICO’s premises in Zota District.
The Liberia Ministry of Public Works is spearheading the over US$40M project, and it is funded by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KEAED), OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), and Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).
The main aim of the project is to enhance the economic and social development of the central region of Liberia as well as linking the country with the neighbouring Republics of Guinea and Sierra Leone.