Liberia and the World Bank have signed two agreements, each costing US$30 million, to strengthen transparency and expand electricity in Liberia.
By Naneka A. Hoffman
Monrovia, Liberia, July 5, 2024 –The World Bank and Liberia have signed two agreements valued at 30 million United States Dollars to strengthen institutions of transparency and accountability and expand the country’s electricity supply to 500,000 customers.
Speaking during the signing ceremony on Thursday, July 4, 2024, on the tenth floor of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Monrovia, World Bank Country Manager Georgia Wallen said the two agreements align with the Government’s ARREST agenda.
She assures the Liberian government that the World Bank will continue to support Liberia in solving most of the country’s problems, especially in the electricity sector.
Miss Wallen describes the two projects as milestones since her inception as Country Manager of the World Bank and the coming of Joseph Boakai’s administration because the Bank sees these projects as really central in moving forward the ARREST agenda.
“These projects are turning on the light in different and complementary respects,” she says.
According to her, the first project is about governance, reform, and accountability transformation to turn the light in terms of transparency and accountability, bringing the government closer to the Liberian people.
The World Bank’s country manager explained that it would help strengthen accountability institutions and support the government’s efforts in domestic resource mobilization.
“We are aiming to support your efforts to reach 2.15 million people with digitally-enabled services through this project by the end of six years.”
Meanwhile, she notes that the Liberia Electricity Strengthening Project is a multi-phase approach; this is the second phase because the first phase was in 2021.
“We are excited because this project will extend access to electricity to new communities and 500,000 people, and it will increase 900,000 new connections.”
She adds that it will extend electricity to hardest-to-reach areas and strengthen LEC operational capacity.
Liberia’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Boima Kamara, described the project as great because it promotes accountability, transparency, governance, reforms, and capacity strengthening.
“I see the signing of these two agreements as a driver of President Joseph Boakai’s ARREST agenda because energy cuts across the rule of law, agriculture, increase infrastructural development, education, health, and the vehicles that we ride,” Minister Kamara notes.
He says the government believes that the signing of the two agreements is a testimony to the Boakai administration’s delivery of a long, foreseeable future that will be greater than two.
He notes that the additional US$30 million agreement will bring the World Bank’s support in the energy sector to about US$80 million in investments in the country in recent years.
Kamara indicates that the signing of the 30 million is just a part of a bigger envelope that is yet to come because the bank’s board of directors has approved 190 million United States Dollars to be used in Liberia in 2024.
The Finance and Development Planning Minister thanks the World Bank on behalf of President Joseph Boakai and the government and people of Liberia.
At the same time, he assures the World Bank that the money will be used for its intended purposes. This will go a long way toward providing electricity to the populace and exhibiting transparency in the country.
Also speaking, Minister of Mines and Energy Wilmot Paye says the signing of the agreement in the energy sector is an indication that the sector’s environment is improving here.
This signals that Liberia is on the right track, as evidenced by the cooperation and responses from international development partners in the electrical sector.
The Managing Director of the Liberia Electricity Corporation, Monie Raph Captan, thanks officials of the World Bank and the Finance Ministry for a successful negotiation that yielded the signing of the two agreements.
“Electricity,” Captan says, “is so important because it is cross-cutting in all aspects of development in our country.”
He expresses joy that the World Bank has agreed to work with the Liberian government to develop the electricity sector, which would yield more economic benefits for the country.
“Most of the time, we only look at the financial benefit, but we do not take into consideration the long-term economic benefits, which we need to keep our eyes on.”
He notes that the government has been overwhelmed by the resources needed to make electricity available to all, and his proposal is based on this.
The Country Manager of the World Bank, Miss Georgia Wallen, signed on behalf of her institution, while Liberia’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Boima Kamara, signed on behalf of the Government of Liberia, while the program was graced by Wilmot Paye, Minister of Mines and Energy; and the Managing Director of the Liberia Electricity Corporation, Monie Captan, among others. Editing by Jonathan Browne
