MONROVIA – Managing Director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC), Mo Ali, has responded to comments made by former Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel D. Tweah, regarding the legacy and financing of the $40 million Monrovia Urban Water Supply Project.
By: Gegee Brima – alhajigegeebrima@gmail.com
The political debate surrounding the ownership of the project resurfaced following a discussion on OK FM’s OK Conversation, where former Minister Tweah asserted that the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) administration deserves the primary credit for securing the $30 million financing that facilitated the installation of the water transmission line.
Clarifying the history of the initiative, Ali explained that the project originated under the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
During that period, an initial $10 million grant was negotiated with the World Bank by a technical team including former Finance Minister Amara Konneh, LWSC leadership, and Ali himself, who then served as the Director of the WASH Unit at the Ministry of Finance.
“The project started under President Sirleaf with a $10 million grant. We laid the groundwork, did the project proposals, and secured that initial phase,” Ali stated. He acknowledged that the subsequent CDC administration secured an additional $30 million in financing structured as a loan to expand the water supply system, replace transmission pipes, and construct new pumping stations.
Addressing the execution phase, Ali highlighted that despite the loan agreement being signed in November 2023 with contractor Constar GV, physical work had not commenced by the time he took office on March 1, 2024.
Ali pointed to contractual bottlenecks and persistent disagreements between the contractor and the original Indian consultancy firm, WAPCOS. Upon assessing the status, the LWSC Board of Directors, chaired by Dr. Khalifa Bility, authorized the termination of WAPCOS’s contract with World Bank approval. The corporation subsequently hired Ghanaian consultancy firm Four Square Engineering to oversee and execute the project.
Additionally, Ali noted that project scope adjustments reducing the target line from 11.4 kilometers to 10 kilometers were required due to prior delays and the reallocation of certain project funds during the COVID-19 pandemic response.
In response to Tweah’s assertion that “no one will steal our legacy,” Ali emphasized the operational and financial burden carried by the current Unity Party administration under President Joseph Nyuma Boakai.
“Mr. Tweah can take credit for securing the loan, but who is paying for it now? The repayment of this loan is currently being made by this government,” Ali said, noting that actual implementation and financial fulfillment rest with the current administration.
During the Conversation, former Minister Tweah maintained that in international development frameworks, securing the financial commitments remains the critical milestone. Tweah argued that project continuity across administrations is standard governance and that the CDC’s effort to secure the $30 million multilateral funding should be acknowledged as its core contribution.
Ali concluded by calling for an end to political back-and-forth, stating that LWSC Project Director Pauw Buoyu who has led the Project Implementation Unit since 2017 will provide a full, detailed background of the project’s grant, loan, and execution timeline during the formal dedication program.
