By MediaGlobal News Service
14 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The United Nations Mission In Liberia (UNMIL) announced Thursday that the road rehabilitation projects undertaken between September 2007 and May 2008 gave more than 1.3 million working days to over 30,000 people. After years of civil war, the roads and bridges of Liberia have been severely damaged, with only 730 of 9,860 kilometers paved. Director of UNMIL’s Reintegration, Rehabilitation and Recovery Section (RRR) Andrea Tamagnini told MediaGlobal, “The magnitude of the road rehabilitation works required is massive, and this represents the first priority of the Liberian Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.” The most recent projects began during the last dry season and were as a result of collaboration between Liberia’s Ministry of Public works, UNMIL, the World Bank (WB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the World Food Program (WFP). Given findings that increased employment during the time of building contributed to lower incidents of petty crime, higher levels of peace, stability, security and reintegration, improved governance and stimulation of the local economy, Tamagnini said, “the Ministry of Public Works and its partners, including the U.N. and the World Bank, are consulting on the next dry season’s deliverables in terms of road rehabilitation.” The future works will mostly focus on the road network in the Southeast and the critical link between Central and Northern Liberia. Additionally, there are plans to empower local communities along the roadways to organize labour-based road rehabilitation projects thought two-year maintenance programs. “It is expected that thousands of short-term jobs would result from these initiatives,” said Tamagnini. In efforts to create even more employment opportunities, the Liberian Government recently launched a new initiative to strengthen investment in agriculture, where strengthening commercial agriculture activities could create local jobs. Although long-term employment is important, Tamagnini said, “The Mission/RRR believes that short-term employment programs should be promoted and supported over the next two years to provide livelihood for thousands of war-affected populations until economic growth and expansion can create opportunities for more sustainable jobs.” Liberia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy focuses on the goal of infrastructure rebuilding, specifically in roads, as the best way to achieve such rapid employment creation that will lead to quicker economic recovery in Liberia.
Liberian men and women working on a road rehabilitation project. (Photo courtesy: UNMIL)
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