MONROVIA – Few years following her taking
By Samuel G. Dweh/freelance journalist (+231) 886-618-906/776-583-266; [email protected])
Two of many projects undertaken by CHICO are: renovation of parts of Liberia’s International Airport and reconditioning of the Fish Town-Harper road. Fish Town is the capital of Rivergee County, while Harper is of Maryland County—all in the South-eastern part of Liberia.
But Mrs. Ellen Sirleaf’s government had not settled all its financial obligations to CHICO before the first African Head of State was replaced with former World-Class soccer star George Manneh Weah through Liberia’s general elections in 2017.
“We haven’t received, from the Government of Liberia, refund of the money we had spent as pre-finance to some of the projects we have undertaken,” CHICO’s Public Relations Officer Joseph Nanoo Swen told a team of journalists at CHICO’s head office behind the Chinese Embassy in Congotown on December 13, 2018. “The debt is affecting our works for Liberia. We are not reporting the government to the media, though, but just for you to be informed about cause of our delay to complete some of the project, against the mandate given to us.”
The journalists’ visit at CHICO’s office was part of their collective report on Chinese Enterprises and China-Aided Projects in Liberia.
CHICO’s Vice President for Liberia, Zhang Sen, endorsed the Company’s Liberian P.R.O.’s disclose with a nod of his head.
“However, CHICO won’t leave Liberia, because of the relationship between Liberia and China. We will complete our work, and stay on for another work if the Liberian government wants us agrees,” the Chinese said.
Buttressing his Chinese colleague’s insinuation of continuous work, Public Relations Officer Swen declared: “We have just bought fifty vehicles for our operations, especially those in the South-eastern Counties.”
But, there is another challenge of currencies exchange to secure equipment neighboring Ivory Coast for the Company’s South-eastern Liberia projects.
“We are compelled to change Dollar into CFA. This is a major challenge with us in the south-east, since we can’t come down to Monrovia to purchase these materials, due to the distance and bad roads,” PR Officer Swen complained.
The Government of Liberia has given two or more Chinese construction companies the same kind of work: construction or maintenance.
“That does not worry us,” PR Swen replied to a journalist’s expressed concern on the government’s duplicity of a similar work. “We have a track record of outstanding performance in the road construction business in Liberia, as well as in several other Countries.”
Mr. Swen added, however, that the government has the right to give construction job to any company it feels can do it better, and that CHICO’s focus is on bigger projects which are most often World Bank-financed.
He also praised the Liberian government on sharing piece of the construction pie with local construction companies.
“The government has realized that the private sector of Liberia, in the area of road construction, is one of the major vehicles for the growth of the nation,” Mr. Swen stressed.
The CHICO officials said the Chinese Government has pumped in USD78m equivalent of Chinese currency (RMD) into its projects in Liberia.
CHICO’s other task is maintenance of roads it created or repaired. Some of the routes under this maintenance clause are: Buchanan—SKD (Samuel Kanyon Doe) Sports Complex Boulevard; and ELWA Junction to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
CHICO is training Liberians in the operation of its equipment, to continue with the road networking of their Country, after the hired Chinese engineers had returned to their native Land, the Company’s Chinese Vice President and Liberian Public Relations Officer disclosed to journalists.