MONROVIA – The Managing Director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC), Mr. G. Alphonso Gaye, has made a case on behalf of the Liberian government and in the interest of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) for additional funding from the World Bank. Making Liberia’s case to a visiting World Bank Mission to Liberia during an official visit to the LWSC, Managing Director Gaye outlined several priority areas that additional funding from the Bank would significantly transform, thus improving the country’s water and sewer profiles.
The LWSC boss identified the completion of a new forty-eight-inch (48”) transmission pipeline from the township of Johnsonville coming into parts of Congo Town along the Tubman Boulevard as one key area to source funding. According to the former Grand Gedeh County senator, the current thirty-six-inch (36”) transmission pipeline, which runs from the White Plains Water Treatment Plant (WTP) through Paynesville, has a track record of repeated ruptures, which are mostly responsible for water outage in the city and adjacent areas.
“Our current major transmission infrastructure, which supplies a significant portion of the city, is over sixty (60) years old; additional funding directed to this new forty-eight-inch (48”) pipeline will be a massive relief not only to the LWSC but also to the population of the city that depends on us for safe drinking water,” the LWSC Director emphasized.
MD Gaye also named other key areas and activities that seek World Bank funding, including the rehabilitation of the Monrovia Sewer network, the Sewage Treatment Plant, its lift station, as well as sewage conveyance to the sewage plant situated in Fiamah. “I would like to inform our partners that we have conducted assessments, design, and bidding documents on what we intend to do with the funding provided by you in 2018; all we now seek is funding to implement,” MD Gaye told the World Bank’s visiting mission.
Another priority area that the LWSC boss is requesting more financing from the World Bank includes the establishment and operationalization of Additional District Meter Areas (DMAs), which has five (5) designed under the Liberia Urban Water Supply Project (LUWSP), but only two (2) were operationalized. “The operationalization of the remaining three (3) already designed and the establishment of additional DMAs in areas not yet targeted will further improve the LWSC’s ability to reduce non-revenue water and improve collections,” MD Gaye asserted.
The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation boss also named the construction of additional reservoirs, also known as elevated water storage tanks, as another significant area that the LWSC seeks more financing. “We anticipate an improvement in our operational efficiency, and we have conducted numerous assessments which prove that the construction of more reservoirs, similar to what your funding has made possible in the GSA Rock Hill community, will reduce pumping time and the cost of operations of our system,” Managing Director Gaye mentioned.
According to MD Gaye, the interventions of the Bank, notably at the level of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC), have come a long way in addressing some grave post-war sector challenges, noting that these interventions will also go a long way into the post-war recovery history of Liberia.
Already, Senator Gaye disclosed that the funding from the World Bank has brought significant transformation to the LWSC in the areas of infrastructure improvement on the existing supply and distribution systems, the expansion of the Corporation’s network by an additional 85km of UPVC pipelines, and 1.37km of Ductile Cast Iron pipes in the Bank’s project communities.
“Your monetary contributions to our Institution’s post-war recovery are vividly seen from various spectrums, including infrastructure improvement, institutional capacity building, service availability, as well as procurement and technical capacity development,” MD Gaye told his guests.
According to the LWSC Managing Director, the LWSC is poised to resume full supply of pipe-borne water to central Monrovia for the first time in over ten (10) years based on funding from the World Bank. “I would like to inform you that we have successfully cleaned and disinfected the Ducor Reservoir and tested the supply to central Monrovia for days based on your financed newly constructed sixteen-inch express pipeline from our Fish Market Booster Station to our New Port Street Booster Station and upward to the City Reservoir,” MD Gaye reported to the World Bank’s mission.
The LWSC Managing Director asserted that with continual support from Liberia’s bilateral partners, including the World Bank, LWSC has the potential to not only sustain itself but also to significantly contribute to the national government’s programs and priorities.
Responding to the LWSC Managing Director’s comprehensive presentation on his Institution, the World Bank’s delegation, including its Practice Manager Ms. Anna Cestari, Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist – Mr. Yitbarek Tessema, Senior Special Development Specialist – Mr. Akhilesh Ranjan, Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, Mission Leader – Mr. Christian Yeakula, and others, commended the LWSC for the presentation and the significant transformation ongoing at the Corporation.
The World Bank Practice Manager and Task Team Leader applauded the MD and the entire Management Team of the LWSC for the level of improvements being experienced. “We are very impressed with the level of transformation that you have brought to the LWSC in such a short period, Hon. MD,” the Bank’s Task Team Leader expressed.
For her part, Ms. Cestari, the World Bank’s Practice Manager, expressed how inspired she was by the workings and vision of the LWSC Managing Director. “I would like to state, Hon. Gaye, that you have honestly inspired me, and by this, the mission is ready to provide support to your administration in any way possible,” Ms. Cestari assured the LWSC boss.
The World Bank’s mission visit to Liberia, which was from September 4-8, 2023, was a follow-up on the implementation of the actions agreed upon during the previous mission held in March 2023.
