GOMPA, Nimba – Eighteen of the 20 hand pumps that residents of Nimba’s first electoral district decided to build with US$70,000 in earmarked funds from the Legislative Support Project have been completed and dedicated.

The 18 communities in the district are now using the completed pumps, while another one is nearing completion.

An elder in Bein-Garr district, Amos Gbatu, thanked the Rep. Jeremiah Koung on behalf of the Bein-Garr Council of Elders for the projects.

“Today, I am happy that those pumps are completed and the keys are about to be passed unto you as community leaders,” Gbatu said.

He said he has been personally following the lawmaker’s actions since he assumed office in 2011, mentioning annexes constructed at the J. W. Pearson High School campus, the construction of a public school in Welenah and Goewe, the construction of the US$68,000 Gordodin Market in the LPRC Community.

Koung helped spearhead those projects, which were funded by the Social and County Development Funds, as well as funding from the annually earmarked funds for the district within the national budget.

Gbatu recalled that initially, the community had wanted to build a fence around the J. W. Pearson School or even construct a city hall, adding, “We decided to do the water pump project because the money could not do any of the other two projects we wanted to do.”

The project was presented to the elders by the resource officer in the office of Koung, Victor Kpeiseh.

“According to what we have, [the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment] said we are going to benefit 19 hand pumps out of our money,” he said. “We have 18 that are ready now, and we cannot continue to wait on that one… We declare all the other ones open for our people to start making use of them.”

Kpeiseh said Koung’s office would continue to address “the major needs of the people.”

The community seemed to appreciate Koung’s role in completing the project.

“In the first place, I want to tell Honorable Koung thank you for what he has done for us,” said Nyan Meanpeh, community chair of Success Community. “I want to tell my people that as we have received this pump today, each and every one of us should maintain it. This pump is about US$3,000, so we need to maintain it.”

The community leaders jointly promised to provide good maintenance to the pumps and said they would be willing to make contributions to whatever it will take to have pipe-borne water in the city in the near future.

Featured photo by Arrington Ballah