At least 71 family heads and 288 dependents in Popo Beach community, Bushrod Island, now have decent concrete homes following the dedication of 50 new housing units.
President George Weah last April promised the slum community members after their clustered makeshift shelters burned to ashes in a fire disaster.
The cause of the raging fire was not clear, but some pointed to electrical fault that degenerated from a single room. Power theft in slum communities and reckless handing of candle lights and mosquito coils can sometimes end into the burning of homes and human casualties.
The Popo Beach project costs nearly US$900,000, and each home contains two bedrooms, two porches, a bathroom and other facilities. The President gifted mattresses to occupy all the rooms.
The next day after fire gutted the area, on April 4, the President instructed the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE) to immediately proceed with the erection of the housing units that could be ready for use in the period of 60 days.
The Agency said the timeline was achieved, and that the project was awaiting dedication. During the course of implementation, LACE’s contractor also hired community youth daily as a form of empowering locals, the Liberia News Agency (LINA) qouted.
As direct beneficiaries and other community residents defied the heavy downpour Friday afternoon to witness the cutting of ribbon to the new homes, President Weah noted the importance of occupants and the entire community in promoting cleanliness, urging them to do all they can to prevent fire disasters and other harms.
Further speaking, President Weah said it was a good thing to see that “our people who were devastated are now joyful,” adding that his government’s duty is to ensure that its Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD) works to lift all Liberians, including the underprivileged.
“We did not promise heaven. But we promised development and this is what we are doing,” said President Weah, as jubilations covered the community.
The President told the guaranteed the audience that his government will keep its promise to transform Liberia as evidenced by the ongoing works on road infrastructure that will in turn lead to capacity-building and facilitate a vibrant agricultural sector for the economy to be upped.
“Before the six-year mandate that you gave me is expired, you will see the trace of my government all around the country,” he said, further urging patience, discipline and hard work on the part of the citizenry as international partners continue to provide assistance and cooperation on many development fronts.
The Liberian leader reiterated his government’s plan to construct housing units in all 15 counties — an undertaking that now sees the construction of 282 new shelters for poor residents of Sass Town in Grand Kru County — taking them from huts to modern homes.
LACE says the Sass Town project is nearing completion, and Maryland County will be next on the list.
Meanwhile, President Weah used the occasion to resound the need for Liberians to work in the common interest of the nation, indicating that plenty talk with no impact on lives and country means just “nothing.”
“I am President for all Liberia. I am interested in moving this country forward, and I can tell you that Liberia will not move forward until we unite, sustain the peace, promote dialogue; and there shouldn’t be any segregation.”
On his part, the Chairman of Popo Beach, Eric Thompson, alias “Christian Cole”, the community was profoundly overwhelmed and grateful to the President and Government for such development initiative.
According to him, his leadership has since embarked on a sensitization campaign intended to safeguard homes. The awareness, he said, is focused on zero candle-use and anti-power theft, working together with the Liberian Electricity Cooperation (LEC) and Liberia National Fire Service (LNFS) to ensure safety measures are intact.
During the ceremony, LACE’s executive director Quiwu Yeke disclosed that an additional 69 such homes will be constructed on the coastline in New Kru Town for the needy beginning next month as the ocean revetment and drainage systems would be in place.
