GANTA, Nimba – The administration of Nimba County has commenced the rehabilitation of the main roads in selected districts within the county.

David Cooper, Nimba County’s assistant superintendent for development, spoke to a team of reporters from community radio stations in Ganta about his planned agenda for 2015. He revealed that road rehabilitations and personnel training are his primary focus.

Cooper said the county would perform the road maintenance work in phases. He named roads in Gbehlay-Geh, Buu-Yao and Tweh River districts as part of the phase one initiative. Tappita, Kpamblee, Gbi and Dorkru, and Yarwin-Mensonnoh districts would be next. He disclosed that authorities allocated $1.7 million USD for road maintenance during the recent Nimba County Council Sitting. The two major items outlined in the budget was the purchase of spare parts and fuel for the construction equipment. Compensation for the equipment operators was also part of the allotment.

Cooper said the county plans to sponsor Nimba’s youth for training at technical and vocational institutions around the country. With the technical knowledge, he said the trained youth would be essential to the growth and development of Nimba and Liberia as a whole.

Cooper also asked citizens to report any acts of corruption that would hinder the ongoing road reconstruction. He also commended the past county administration for the decision to purchase the machines.

In a related development, William Gyude Moore, Liberia’s public works minister, revealed that the government plans to start compensating individuals with properties that would be affected by the construction.

He made the comments when he spoke to reporters in Ganta. “The government of Liberia has received $8 million USD [from] the World Bank. The money is geared toward road construction works within the country. Portion of this money will be used to settle people with affected properties during the road construction process,” Moore said.

“Our focus is [on] properties along the way from Red-Light to Gbarnga, and from Gbarnga to [the] Ganta-Guinea Border. [The] Ganta-Yekepa highway will be next,” Moore continued. He clarified that beneficiaries would be owners of properties within a 75 feet radius of the road project. Although he said the county would compensate property owners on the basis of property value, Moore did not detail how the property values would be assessed.

Featured image courtesy of Flickr’s jbdodane