NO AIRPORT SHOULD RUN on GENERATORS. MAYBE IT WAS GOOD THE GENERATORS BROKE DOWN SO WE CAN FIX THE PROBLEM THAT WAS NEVER FIXED IN THE PAST 20 YEARS!
The RIA has run on generators since the end of the war. Between 2005 and 2017 the energy sector received at least USD 2 billion in inflows of support from the Government of Liberia. None of this was used to build an electricity system for the RIA. Maybe the logic was that” when we complete all electricity projects we would connect RIA to the grid.”
Well, problem is that it takes too long a time to complete projects or to connect RIA to the grid. The same logic was applied in building Mt Coffee. ” When we finish Mt Coffee we will do transformer and connections project.
These are bad choices and poor sequencing that are hurting us today.
We also built a so-called $55 Millon airport whose real cost is 25 million and did not think about is electricity supply system.
Running generators is NEVER an optimal solution. One day the generators will go down no matter how perfectly they are maintained. Generators are backups when electricity systems go down. Here for the last 20 years, we have made generators at the RIA the mainstay of provision of power.
The error is in that choice not in the breakdown of generators.
We are now being told we need $20 million to invest in the navigational system at the airport and a power system. This is almost half the cost we wasted on a bogus $55 million airport.
But with everything broken in Liberia and NOT SOLVED IN THE PAST, we will find this money to change RIA for good.
Investment in a stand-alone electricity system will now be of the highest priority. We will deliver in two years while we work to maintain the current generator system better.
This too will add to the legacy of PRESIDENT GEORGE M Weah.
Let’s focus on the real disease NOT on the symptoms.
