EC Commits €165.9M to Liberia

MONROVAI – The National Authorizing Office (NAO) of the European Commission (EC) has announced a strategic assistance package to the Liberian Government worth €165.9 million for its post-war reconstruction program.

Making the disclosure last month, the Deputy National Officer of the NAO designated at the Planning Ministry, Alvin Attah, said the money is geared towards improving the country’s infrastructure and its health sector.

Attah stated that the NAO at the Ministry had been formally notified by the Commission that the first installment of budgetary support to Liberia would be disbursed within the first quarter of 2010.

He told Deputy Ministers of the Planning Ministry at the one-day strategic enlightenment meeting that the EC was interested in assisting the Liberian Government with the implementation of the Monrovia-Ganta-Guinea and Buchanan highway projects.

He said the reconstruction of the roads, though already a priority of the Liberian Government, was significant to the country’s economic sector.

Attah intimated that when the road project is completed it will accelerate trade and commerce and further encourage many other Liberians to get involved in agriculture activities, as they will have access to markets.

The NAO Deputy further disclosed that €40 million had already been approved by the NAO for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, which, he said, has one of the most comprehensively planned programs.

The amount constitutes the tenth envelope of the European Development Fund (EDF), Attah said.

Of that amount, he explained, financing conditions for support to the Liberia Reconstruction Trust Fund (LRTF) in the amount of €60.2 million, and €40 million to support the National Health Plan had also been recently approved.

He noted, however, that infrastructure support through the LRTF would be managed by the World Bank and the launch of calls for proposals for the Health Sector would begin soon, as soon as the necessary consultations were concluded with the Commission and the relevant sector Ministry.

The NAO Deputy also pointed out that the support to the LRTF would be used for the rehabilitation of the Monrovia-Buchanan Highway and the Monrovia-Gbarnga-Ganta-Guinea Border Highway.

Attah, who facilitated the meeting, led the Deputy Ministers through technical issues related to the EC-Liberia relationship under the umbrella of the Revised Cotonou Agreement of 2005.

He stressed that Liberia’s relationship with the EC is not limited to the Foreign Ministry where bilateral and other diplomatic issues are handled, but that the NAO Office at the Ministry of Planning will be responsible for representing the Government and people of Liberia in the direct management of the EDF allocated to Liberia.

“It may be recalled,” Attah stated, “that in 1994, the powers of the NAO were taken from Liberia by the Commission because of gross human rights abuses, the breakdown of rule of law and a collapse of democratic governance. However, since the Sirleaf-led Government got seated in 2006, a positive relationship with the European Commission has been restored, and discussions for the return of NAO powers to the Government of Liberia are at an advanced stage.”

Also speaking during the meeting, Deputy Minister Marcus Dahn thanked the EC for approving direct budgetary support to Liberia and prayed that commitments are made in due course considering the current financial constrains the government is experiencing.