Monrovia – About 1.5 million Liberians are expected to receive a sustainable supply of clean and safe drinking water, thanks to a joint venture between the Government of Liberia and two American companies: American Venture Group, LLC and Quest Water Solutions, Inc.
The MOU for the collaboration to establish a joint venture in Liberia was signed by the Managing Director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC), Duannah Kamara, representing the Government of Liberia and Richard Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer of American Venture Group representing the two companies.
Speaking at the signing ceremony on Saturday, June 1, LWSC Managing Director, Duannah Kamara revealed that the joint venture will require the companies to design, build, finance, install, own and operate 270 water purification and distribution systems in rural communities throughout Liberia.
Mr. Kamara noted that following the completion of the agreement, the companies will deploy 50 water kiosks, an outlet through which the companies will deliver safe and reliable water at affordable prices.
“Liberia,” he added, “is the first country that is expected to benefit from the project which is expected to spread across the whole of Africa; and attributed this to the cordial and mutual friendship between President Weah and the co-founder of American Venture Group (AVMA) and brain behind the venture, former Congolese American, retired professional basketball player, Dikembe Mutombo.
Said Duannah: “As soon as we sign this MOU, they will begin to deploy the first 50 pieces around the country. We will designate those areas and they are going to have boreholes, a machine, and solar panel and charging boot. There will be card printed that you will use and as soon as you put it there you will get water. We just want to say a big thank you to the billionaire (Dikembe Mutombo), who is a personal friend of the President. We are very grateful for the partnership.”
“It is also good for the Liberian people because all these kiosks that will be installed will create over a 1000 jobs for Liberians and the LWSC will not put in a dime. There is going to be a zero cost incurred by the government.”
Giving detail information about the partnership, Richard Hoffman, Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of AVMA explained that the partnership was born out of the desire of Mr. Mutombo as head to do social investments in Africa.
AVMA, Hoffman stated, is an investment firm out of the United States that serves as an economic lobbyist to the Unites States encouraging investments on the corporate and privatized side in Africa; while Quest Water Solutions, a public trading company out of the United States is one of the most innovative water solutions in the world.
According to him, Quest Solutions has spent half of the last decade inventing and bringing forward various sophisticated water purification systems and was delighted to be coming to Liberia and deploying clean water for every county.
“It is a detail trunk investment over the next 18 to 25 months. What Quest Solutions has invented is a 40-foot water container. The inner of the unit is a very sophisticated proprietary water purification process that takes river, lake water and even ocean water that converts it into some of the more pure drinking water and consumable water on the planet,” he explained.
“We have this opportunity to come to Liberia first before spreading out to other parts of the continent because of our founding father, Dikembe Mutombo’s love for Liberia and friendship with the President [George M. Weah]. He was very emphatic that we come to Liberia and deploy this facility before going out to other countries. I have been in Liberia for over two months now making sure that we do this work.”