As AML remain mute over the collapsed of Ganta – Yekepa Road
The Loguatuo Road project is facing a significant delay, with construction coming to a halt for nearly a year under the Boakai Administration. Speculation suggests that funding issues from partners, such as the African Development Bank, may have contributed to the standstill.
The completion of the road is crucial for facilitating the movement of goods and services, especially before the rainy season sets in.
Although the Public Works Resident Engineer Anthony Siaway said the work is expected to start anytime soon, when the Daily Observer visited on recently, it was discovered no sign of any preparation for resuming the work.
“There are some patches left on this road for completion, and it will be done,” he said.
It was also observed from the road that most of the construction camps along the road are in ruins, the constructed bridges are yet to be back filled, leaving many to worry about the impending rainy season.
“If this road is not completed before the rainy season, the detour and patches left will become deplorable for the movement of goods and services,” said a security officer in Loguatuo.
The main bridge linking Liberia and Ivory Coast has been constructed, but it is awaiting backfilling and connection of the asphalt to the bridge.
The Sehkinyepa – Loguatuo Road project began under the regime of former President George Manner Weah and the then Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor oversaw the groundbreaking ceremony.
The project was heavily politicized during the campaign of the presidential election in 2023.
CDC stalwarts, at the time, took pains to highlight the road construction, as it was implemented through the influence and instrumentality of President Weah. Unity Partisans countered the claim, arguing it was a donor funded project negotiated during former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s administration, and that the CDC could not take the credit.
Either way, the long delay in completing the work is creating resentment among the citizens, with many insinuating that the work was surely done speedily because of the former president Weah influence.
“We expect[ed] this road to be completed within a few months after the UP led Government [came] to power, but the delay has gone beyond our expectations,” said one Amos Wonnah, a petty businessman.
In a related development, ArcelorMittal – Liberia (AML) continues to remain mute over the status of the Sanniquellie – Yekepa road construction, which is said to have finally collapsed after AML withdrew funding.
All efforts by this paper to obtain a statement from AML, of one of the world leading steel companies, have been fruitless, despite several text messages and emails to the communication office.
Meanwhile, ‘CSE’, the Senegalese firm contracting for the project, pulled out its equipment from their camps along the Ganta – Sanniquellie highway to another destination, outside Nimba.
The Ganta – Yekepa project is one of the earliest roads in Liberia since 2008 promised by Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman of Arcelor Mittal. It was partially done under the regime of President Weah from Ganta to Sanniquellie, leaving the Sanniquellie – Yekepa portion under deplorable condition.
However, the Saclepea – Tappita highway is speedily ongoing with the pavement reaching beyond Greia.
The road is likely to bring relief to the citizens of Lower Nimba, especially to Tappita where Jackson Fiah Doe Referral Hospital is situated.
The deplorable condition of the road in the past deprived many from accessing the hospital, leaving some patients to die while finding their way in the mud to reach the hospital.
