Monrovia – The Executive Mansion has disclosed plans by the government to expand the Roberts International Airport Highway to a four-lane road.
The expansion is estimated to be 44 Kilometer, which Presidential Press Secretary Isaac Solo Kelgbeh says will curb difficulties faced by the movements of vehicles on the current one lane.
“Normally, you just have one lane going and one lane coming, so the president wants to expand it to four lanes,” Kelgbeh said.
“The expansion will create additional space for vehicles to move along the route, instead of just using a single lane.”
Addressing an Executive Mansion regular press briefing Tuesday, February 18, Kelgbeh said the duration of the project and the company responsible to implement it will be made known to the public at the groundbreaking ceremony slated for Thursday.
Kelgbeh maintained that the expansion of the RIA Road is in line with President Weah’s developmental agenda focused on road connectivity.
There has been series of accidents along the RIA in recent years, one of which lead to the death of a former Liberian Legislator, Adolph Lawrence. Consequently, there have been calls for the expansion of that highway, something road users say will limit the risk the current road condition poses.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Press Secretary has reemphasized President Weah’s confirmation of the 14 Military Hospital being 95 percent completed following a tour on the eve of this year’s Armed Forces Day.
On February 11, 2018, President George Weah announced his government’s move to construct a military hospital for officers of the AFL as well as communities near the facility.
He then broke ground for the construction of the hospital on March 26, of the same year.
Kelgbeh furthered stated that the hospital will be opening in the coming months not only for the military personnel but will also serve residents nearby or far on a commercial basis.
In another development, the Presidential Press Secretary stated that the government has brought in a huge quantity of gasoline in the country from neighboring Sierra Leone that will ease the burden created by the shortage on the local market.
He said the gasoline brought in the country is estimated at approximately two million gallons, which he believes is sufficient to serve Liberia.
“We have gasoline now in the country, we want to say a big thanks to our people and also sorry for the inconveniences, it was not intentional and those who were speaking during the shortage period was doing so, based on information given to them,” he said.
“From now to the 24th, we expect other vessels to come and we are doing everything possible to make sure we don’t go back to where we are from.”
Kelgbeh clarified that all cost attached to bringing the gasoline into Liberia was completely paid for by government and that the government is taking strategic measures to ensure that it has its own storage facility while awaiting findings from the committee constituted to investigate the shortage of gasoline.
The storage facility according to Kelgbeh, will serve as government reserve in case of gasoline shortage due to problems faced by the importers.