By Patrick N. Tokpah
(Bong County
Correspondent)
More than thirty-thousand residents of Bong and Nimba Counties stand to benefit from an US$80 million worth of safe drinking water (pipe-borne) project soon in Liberia.
The disclosure of the pipe-borne water project in Gbarnga and Ganta was made by Bong County Superintendent Esther Walker.
Gbarnga and Ganta are cities in Liberia that do not have pipe-borne water supply system. Hand pumps exist, though, but not in large numbers to serve the cities and the districts, and many of those pumps are even non-functional.
According to the Bong County Superintendent, the water project will be sponsored by an international organization or NGO called ‘ASCO’ which is owned and operated by a son of Nimba County based in the United States of America.
The Bong County Superintendent further revealed that the organization will work with the Government of Liberia through its long-standing partner USAID to ensure the success of the project.
Superintendent Walker said the 80-million-dollar water project is in the assurance of President George Weah’s Government’s commitment to providing basic social services to the Liberian people.
The down-to-earth Superintendent noted that both cities will benefit from US$40 million each for the project.
“I have been appealing to the head of ASCO and that Gbarnga now has electricity, but there is no pipe-borne water. We need pipe-borne water; our citizens cannot continue to be fetching water from open wells in the city, but as God could have it, he responded to me recently that he lobbied with partners in the US and that he was able to get US$80M for Gbarnga and Ganta for the pipe-borne water project,” Walker disclosed.
However, Superintendent Walker didn’t reveal the name of the Chief Executive Officer of ASCO but only said that he was once part of the negotiation that brought the Jungle Energy Power Electricity into Gbarnga in collaboration with USAID.
According to Superintendent Walker, the finalization of the water project will be done in April of this year, noting that the Chief Executive Officer of ASCO will then be in Liberia.
“If we finalize the discussion surrounding the project, it will be a big boost for our County because we will now be making use of our water tower around the John Flomo Bakalu High School campus. It can just be standing when our people are drinking well water in the city,” she explained.
Superintendent Walker then urged residents of the benefiting counties to take proper ownership of the project and use it to improve their lives when it’s constructed or completed.
Madam Walker added, “President George Weah is passionate about the plight of the poor, and has directed Government’s development focused on improving the livelihood of the poor in the Country.”
