Monrovia – Residents in Monrovia and its environs continue to suffer frequent power outages, and now some parts of Paynesville City are experiencing total blackout as a result of fallen light poles which many citizens from the onset described as sub-standard.
Residents of Paynesville expressed concerns over their safety as these lights pole planted by the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) often break – sometimes falling over fences and properties.
They have also increased calls for LEC to remove these poles from these communities.
At the same time, residents in the Weaver Street community otherwise known
A.B. Tolbert road communities, Paynesville City are complaining about the power outage. This community celebrated the festive season in total blackout.
According to some residents of the community, they have been out of power since Thursday December 22.
Weaver Street community has been labeled a ‘Lucky Community’ benefiting from city power in the Paynesville area.
But that luck did not see them through the Christmas as residents were constrained to use their private generators while others slept in the dark.
According to the LEC, the power outage is a result of a broken pole which they have failed to restore since Thursday, December 23.
Expressing his frustration over the failure of LEC to replace the pole and restore power supply, a resident of the community, James Kortee said – “We are disappointed because with this news about the rehabilitated Hydro, many of us thought things would get better with the issue of power supply,” James Kortee said.
One staff of the LEC who spoke with FrontPageAfrica on condition of anonymity said – “Most often when there is a situation of a damaged pole, that community is automatically cut off until the pole is restored.”
Our source also said getting pole quickly involves lobbying by the community members. This, according to him, causes delays in restoring damage poles.
Recently, the new management headed by Foday Soko Sackor, toured communities in Monrovia and its suburbs, asking residents about their problems with the supply of electricity. Sackor and his team also helped remedy some of the immediate problems.
The complaints from residents in Paynesville add to increasing complaints many LEC subscribers across Monrovia have expressed.
Some residents say the power outage is similar or perhaps worse than the previous power supplied by the corporation for over 11 years.
Critics say the turning on of the first turbine at the hydro was more political than technical, stressing that the President didn’t want to fall short of her second promise – electrifying Liberia.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, during her inauguration in 2005, promised to light up Monrovia in six months which didn’t happen in 11 years.
She again promised Liberians that by December 2016 the hydro will be on, so according to critics, turning an incomplete hydro on is considered a promise come true.
During the official commissioning of the rehabilitated Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant in Harrisburg, Montserrado County President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf challenged successive governments to build upon development programs initiated by the preceding administration.
She said as a clear demonstration of the belief in continuity, her administration has completed other infrastructures development projects started by former Presidents William V. S. Tubman, William R. Tolbert and Samuel K. Doe.