A Liberian government delegation headed by Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung has been touring Chinese manufacturing companies in the past week in search of yellow machines for road construction programs across the country.
The trip is in fulfilment of the Boakai Administration’s campaign promise and commitment to connect the entire country with desperately needed roads that would promote trade internally thru movement of people, goods and services.
Everywhere they went last week in China, Vice President Koung presented one request to the Chinese: “We need value for money.” The Liberian government has set a ceiling of US$22 Million for 285 pieces of yellow machines.
The current endeavor indicates a strong commitment from the current administration to deliver on its promise to the people to pave Liberia with quality roads that have eluded the country for centuries despite successive governments since independence in 1847.
Lack of roads in the country has impeded development and stifled socio-economic life, while seriously undermining health care delivery and education.
The Liberian government under President Joseph Boakai wants to reverse this ugly and grime picture with a great relief for its citizens.
President Boakai said recently that he is no longer a race car packed in the garage, when he served as Vice President then, but is now in the racetrack, as President. This means that he is focus on and in full control of his agenda, ready to deliver.
The government’s initial step with the yellow machines quest had received public criticism and outrage surrounding transparency and evasion of procurement policy. It seems to now have all stakeholders inboard this time around, as indicated by composition of the current delegation in China that includes head of the Public Procurement and Concession Commission, the Minister of Public Works, representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning and the General Service Agency, among others, headed by Vice President Koung.
The Liberian government wants the machines as soonest as yesterday. But it would not trade quantity for quality, and this is what VP Koung has emphasized. “Our aim”, the Vice President said to one of the Chinese companies, Sany Group in Changsha, “is to get value for money. Our aim is to get a fair market value for the money to avoid ambiguity in price.”
“We don’t want cheap items but quality with affordable prices. The country is considering the processes and middlemen/ agents in getting the product to Liberia, which might increase the price. We understand businesspeople aim are to make profit, however, we don’t want to buy and don’t have a real market value,” Mr. Koung underscored.
Ordinary Liberians can but wait, to see the machines here to create jobs across the country, as the bargaining include training opportunities and long- time benefits for the country.
