Major Highway Projects For Kokoyah District, Gbatala-Fenutolee, And The City Of Gbarnga

 

The main Gbarnga-Kokoyah highway, Gbatala-Funetolee highway and the streets of Gbarnga are being rehabilitated according to Hon. George Mulbah, Chairman of the Bong Legislative Caucus and Hon. Mulbah Tokpa of Bong County and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representative of the Republic of Liberia. Disclosing this in E-mail to the President of UBCAA, Hon. Mulbah said that on April 28, 2009 the Management of Firestone accepted a request from him and Hon. Tokpah to recondition the Kokoyah-Gbanrga highway. He said the reconditioning of the highway has reached the town of Gbaikou and should reach the town of Botota by May 18, 2009.

 

Hon. Mulbah further said in his E-mail that prior to the commencement of work, a check of $29,416 was given to Firestone to purchase fuel for the project, $2,5800 was given to Kokoyah District Superintendent for feeding and $5,200 to hire workers to “side brush” the highway. The E-mail went on to say that a check of $20,500 was presented to “Morweh Construction Company” to provide culverts for bridges on the highway. Firestone is using “Back hole” machine to lay the the culverts Hon. Mulbah said. Hon. Mulbah added that the projects are being funded with funds from the Mittal Steel contribution for Bong County.

 

In addition, Hon. Mulbah said that the County has entered into agreement with local construction company called “MDMC” to recondition the streets of Gbarnga including culverts for bridges, 6-mile Gbatala-Fenutolee highway, and 3-mile Gbarnay highway. He said the cost of the total project is $150,000 of which “50%” has already been paid to various entities.

 

UBCAA would like to commend Hon. Mulbah, other members of the Bong Legislative Caucus, the Superintendent, and Firestone for finding common ground on these projects. While UBCAA is elated about these development, it registers concerns about the funding mechanisms of the projects. For example, UBCAA would like to know if all stake holders were consulted before funds were disbursed from Mittal Steel fund. While UBCAA has no reasons to question the honesty of the funding mechanisms, or those involved in making the decisions, it would like to publicly urge Hon. Mulbah to make the funding processes transparent so as to avoid the infamous Fuamah District/Hindi road project debacle. UBCAA hopes the projects will go through to maturity and the people of Bong county benefit from such undertakings.