26 November 2013, Monrovia – The Liberian Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy, in collaboration with the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), Monday officially inaugurated the Liberia Accelerated Electricity Expansion Project, an exercise which is expected to expand and distribute electricity from Monrovia to Kakata, Margibi County.
Monday’s official launching of the LACEEP project accompanied the signing of US$35million energy expansion agreement between the World Bank and the Government of Liberia, a signing ceremony which took place in Monrovia 3 July 2013.
Nearly four months following the signing of the agreement, Monday’s event brings the project into its effective implementation stage, inside sources told our staff writer.
The initiation of the project also means that all pre-conditions for the project’s implementation have been met by the Government of Liberia; including signing of subsidiary agreement between the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Liberia Electricity Corporation; signing of the Trapathied agreement amongst China Union, LEC, and the GOL, as well as rectification of the financing agreement by the National Legislature. Following the completion of the project, according to contract details, cheap electricity would be expanded and distribution from Monrovia to Kakata, including the City’s surrounding communities.
Other benefits associated with the contract include the building of Heavy Fuel Oil infrastructure (HFOs) along the Monrovia-Kakata highway, as well as installing several pipelines along that route. In terms of customer intake, more than 10,000 homes are expected to be connected by the time the exercised is done, disclosed Joseph Mayah, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Liberia Electricity Corporation.
“Our hope is that by time this exercise is completed, there will be cheap electricity for the people of Liberia” says Mr. Yusupha Crookes, World Bank’s Country Director for Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Liberia’s Energy Minister Patrick Sendolo for his part thanked the World Bank for its support to the country’s energy revitalization program. “We want to thanked Mr. Crookes and delegation for coming to Liberia. We thank the World Bank for its continuous support to our energy program, and we hope that we all can move faster to get the project in full swing,” Minister Sendolo said.
– News Democrat
