Robert Philips, Contributing Writer
Have you traveled to beautiful Liberia? Africa’s oldest Republic, the last frontier and land where freed African slaves settled from the USA, a safe haven for members of Black Panthers Party and a country that South African anti-apartheid freedom fighters called home. This land that cradled and served as lounged pad for several of Africa’s independent struggle; but, a nation torn by war, deep rift, wounds and pains leaving among many things shattered including a tattered infrastructure. Arriving in Liberia via Robert’s International Airport (RIA) via plane, one is in awed by lush green fields, evident of nutrient-rich soil. In the distance are meandering channels of water and estuaries discharging into the Atlantic Ocean; then you realize that “she” is beautiful–what a breathtaking “natural beauty”. Yet, passengers on the plane are unaware of the potential danger that lurks ahead or awaits each craft as it descends on the tarmac at RIA…simply put, the runway is air traffic’s worst nightmare.
Built between1941-1943, the Robert’s International Airport (RIA) is Liberia’s only in, which were extended by 85,000m2” .), built with asphalt by the US military during World War II. The airport was initially built with two runways, but now has a single 3,400m-long runway. Over the years, the airport has gone through its natural depreciation, coupled by years of heavy bombardment by rebels destroyed the terminal. Closed for commercial activities during the early nineties, the RIA reopened to commercial in 1997.
The current condition of the runway is horrific. The pavement has not had major renovation since it was built in 1943; the asphalt is cracked, full of holes and potholes; some minor patch work were done, making the runway uneven and a dare-devil’s and adventure seeker’s dream, but a passenger’s nightmare—when they learn the runway’s condition. The current administration attracted several airlines but was unable to retain these relationships because Liberia failed to prioritize the safety of passengers and partner airlines’ assets (plane); Delta Airlines and Air France eventually pulled out of Liberia. Night landings are excessively risky and not advised. According the Rodney Sieh’s article, “Liberia’s Airport Revival – Can Govt Complete Fix Before 2017?”, “The French carrier, Air France, in 2014 ended its flying route to Liberia after poor and dilapidated runaway conditions at the RIA inflicted serious damage on the airline’s AF752 jet, forcing the plane into rugged landing leading to almost half a million dollars in damage. The forced landing ruined the plane’s bottom right, main landing gear, hydraulic holes, brakes, and right main landing gear axle assembly” .
I ponder and ask myself, why is the airport runway delayed? This process started in 2013 and still we have not gotten it right and sadly, we still have not. An International firm estimated the work would cost $60M, thus the loan of $57M. So, to restore will be done by debt financing from the European Investment Bank ($37.3M), Arab Bank for Economic Development for Africa ($20M), while the government of Liberia chips in $3M. After several months contestation of the initial winning company, Eiffage Company (a French company) was disqualified. Later, the Liberian government’s team headed by Amara Konneh (yea, Amara not Bako Freeman) selected Sinohydro Construction. So, who is “Sinohydro”? Sinohydro was kicked out of Botswana for nonperformance in 2012 on that country’s airport and criticized for work done in Sudan (in 2011) . The only evidence that Sinohydro performed work on an airport, they failed “flat”. So, why are we hiring an entity that failed in the similar scope of work as Liberia? An important criteria leading to Eiffage disqualification was its lack of experience on airports. In addition to its woes, Sinohydro does not have experience constructing runways (and all research has not proved that this company has successful completed a runway project), but rather “hydroelectric dams” as its name suggest, Sino-“hydro”, is the world’s largest dam construction company—perhaps they should have done Mt. Coffee. Bako, the Liberian Airport Authority (LAA) Board and their team were sidelined during this process. The president requested Min. Konneh and Ministry of Public Works to get it to contract. Not surprisingly, before Konneh departed office and Liberia, the contract was signed (with Sinohydro). It is important to note that this company failed to win the bid (for the RIA runway project) in earlier vetting process because it lacked the experience, but it seem rather strange that the same company that was rejected because of incompetence (few months ago) has rather find itself highly qualified to do this project—yet, its performance remained same.
So what’s the rationale of choosing this company? The selection of Sinohydro with ZERO experience makes me draw this analogies: Liberia has given the surgical scalpel (blade) to a pre-med student and ask him/her to perform an open heart surgery or remove a cancerous tumor. There is only one outcome, the lack of the experience will lead to the patient’s death. Same is true with RIA, an untested/failed team is about to perform a major renovation that if done wrongly, will continue to be a threat to Liberians, international partners and even world leaders landing on RIA. It is unfortunate that we have a track record of investing monies and not yielding the results. For example, we invested approximately $20M over 10 years to renovate the Executive Mansion—and still, not a floor is completed. Unfortunately, the next president WILL NOT have a repaired but a gutted Mansion. When finally completed the GOL would have spent approximately $75M on the Executive Mansion, while Ghana’s Flagstaff House (the Office of the President) cost $45-50M to build and it is the 10th most beautiful presidential palace in the world (this is another day’s discussion). Just as West African leaders protested against the US African Command (AFRICOM) being stationed in Liberia because of their own national security, they and other world leaders should decry Liberia’s selection (Sinohydro), their very lives might depend on it—if they are to land at RIA in the future.
This editorial might trigger several opinions, including suggestions that, it takes a civil engineers to do the work, true…then all of the companies that expressed interest are qualified. Others might say, well maybe Sinohydro provided the lowest price also true (about $30M which is approximately $30M less than the engineer’s estimated for the work—I believe a price that is half the actual price of scope of work is a RED FLAG); however, does lowest price mean the best quality or more bang for the buck—not necessarily. We’ve heard about CNCQ work at the Executive Mansion…when we think inexpensive, we will get what we pay for. So why would a company with no experience get the work over companies that have proven track record, specifically on airports; how accurate are the estimates of a company that has no experience…the cost of the airport, I predict will increase, end up higher than all bids submitted and could be delayed (there goes a presidential legacy). While Sinohydro bid might be lower, the project’s contingency ratio might be higher than others…there will be cost overrun or the quality of the work might be affected. And when cost increases, the GoL will pay for that because the cost of a legacy is greater than the cost of our children’s future, right? NO!
The debt from this and future administrations are for our kids to pay…for those that are involved in auctioning these contracts, I wonder where are their kids and grandchildren? Do their children and/or grandchildren live in Liberia or responsible for paying off this debt or better still are they even Liberian citizens—the answer is NO!
So guess what, the price tag is left with our children perpetually placing them in poverty, while other children benefit from their debt. Sinohydro is bad for Liberia and the deal is a disastrous nightmare…IT MUST NOT GO THROUGH.
My next article will speak to nepotism/favoritism (the so-called “Progressives” Charge against Tolbert) and its impact on Liberia’s national development—specifically the MOF/MFDP and the Executive Mansion Project, then we will ask the questions, who pays the debt, your children or grandchildren and where are their derivatives…Well, monkey work’s baboon draws.