Liberian Team Visits Sierra Leone on National Road Fund Study Tour

A High-powered Liberian Government delegation on Friday concluded a 3-day working visit to the Republic of Sierra Leone with the aim of exploring and adopting best practices related to the management, control, development and maintenance of the national road network in order to provide safe, reliable and sustainable means of transport in Liberia.

A press release from the National Road Fund (NRF) Office says particular emphasis was placed on the Toll System, which is greatly helping to improve road management in that neighboring country, coupled with its potential of revenue generation in addition to fuel levy. 

Currently in Liberia fuel levy is the known source of funding to the road fund program. 

According to the National Road Manager, Mr. Boniface D. Sartu, stakeholders of the road fund system in Liberia are identifying additional road user charges and other sources of funding of road works in Liberia including the development of a Toll policy similar to that of Sierra Leone.

The tour, funded under the auspices of the National Road Fund, gave firsthand information on strategies employed by that country to fund more works related to rehabilitation, maintenance and construction of roads and bridges at national and local levels. 

Sierra Leone's Road Fund Law also supports Public Private Partnership (PPP) in which companies enter into pre-financing agreements with repayment plans spanning over a certain number of years. 

It is in line with the PPP policy that a Chinese Company named China Railway Seventh Group (CRSG) has expanded a 61.8km highway linking Freetown where the investor installed three Toll gates serving over thirty thousand vehicles with millions of Leones (Sierra Leonean currency) being generated daily. 

According to executives of the Sierra Leonean authorities the construction of the 61.8 kilometer road along with the three toll gates valued at least 153 million United States Dollars. 

The Tool system is in addition to the four United States cents ($0.04 USD) user fee being charged per litre of petroleum product sold on the market.

According to the NRF press release the delegation comprised members of the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee (IMSC) on the Road Fund, Members of the House Committee on Public Works and the NRF Secretariat. 

Senior IMSC members on the Delegation are the IMSC’s Chair and Acting Public Works Minister Ruth Coker-Collins, Internal Affairs Minister Varney Sirleaf and Minister of Commerce and Industry Mawine Diggs. 

The Chair of the House Committee on Public Works Matthew Joe, P. Mike Jurry and Francis S. Dopoh all of the Legislature were on the delegation. 

National Road Fund Manager Mr. Boniface D. Satu and his Program Officer Mr. Prince Nemrode were among members of the Liberian team. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony in Freetown, Acting Public Works Minister and Chair of the IMSC who also headed the delegation, Ruth Coker-Collins, said the visit was to learn the good experiences of Sierra Leone for the attainment of President George Manneh Weah’s goal of improved road connectivity in Liberia.

Also in Freetown was Internal Affairs Minister, Varney A. Sirleaf who was a member of the Inter-Ministerial Committee. 

Minister Sirleaf was particularly keen on how the Road Maintenance Administration (RMFA) of Sierra Leone allocates 20% of the revenue to the 22 Local Councils for rehabilitation and maintenance of feeder roads. 

The local councils are in line with the country’s decentralization program as laid out in its 2014 Local Government Act. 

Minister Sirleaf praised the ongoing road works, especially the new pavement from the Liberian border to Freetown which is nearing completion, noting, road connectivity reinforces the spirit of the Mano River Union on the promotion of trade in the region.

Minister of Commerce and Industry Mawine Diggs asserted that connecting the countries by paved roads would further improve commerce thereby making doing business easier. 

For his part, Representative Matthew Joe who heads the House’ Committee on Public Works said he and his colleagues had gone on the study tour to work with the Counterparts to review laws and policies on the Toll system with the intent to develop the same for Liberia.

Other members of the delegation are Representatives P. Mike Jury and Francis S. Dopoh all of the Legislature and National Road Fund Program Officer Mr. Prince Nemrode.

The delegation also held experience-sharing sessions with the Sierra Leonean counterparts on how both countries have implemented their Road Programs which were recently adopted. 

There were PowerPoint presentations made by both countries and the tour of many facilities including the Toll gates and tollgate monitoring room. Meanwhile, a team from Sierra Leone is due in Liberia shortly in continuation of the experience sharing exercise. The release concluded.