Ellen Condemns Monrovia Roads

After millions of dollars were spent on road construction in Monrovia and its environs by contracting firms, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has condemned some of the finished roads as substandard.
The President lamented that some of roads and streets constructed by the Ministry of Public Works and the World Bank sponsored Chinese company, CHICO, will have to be rebuilt during the dry season.
“Some of those roads were done quickly…were not done to specific engineering designs,” the President said Monday during a phone-in radio talk show on national radio, ELBC.
The Ministry of Public Works is engaged in postwar road rehabilitation while CHICO is doing major road construction in Monrovia and its suburbs.
The President’s concern is an appreciation of mounting public outcry that some streets built in Monrovia and suburban roads show a short lifespan.
“The roads were very dusty, we did not spend that kind of money we spent on properly structured roads,” President Sirleaf added.
Without being specific, she suggested that some of the roads are substandard because they were built without properly following engineering designs.
She said government was trying to “keep the dust down and spread one thick one (asphalt) over it” adding,  “now when dry season comes those roads will be rebuilt and rebuilt to proper specifications.
It was reported that 40 pieces of pressure-treated lumber, 15 boards and several wood sheets and a chain saw valued at $1,120 were stolen at the construction site of the Jallah Town road.
There were reports that thousands of dollars were diverted from appropriation for the Jallah Town road project to purchase land for Kendeja High School.
The General Auditing Commission   reported in 2010 that   U$202,885.63 was spent from over US1 million on the Kendeja School without justification though government said it received funding from the Bob Johnson Group to rebuild the school following the relocation of Kendeja Cultural Center.